The confrontation between Oman and Bahrain, tomorrow, in the final of the Arabian Gulf Football Cup “Gulf 26”, currently being held in Kuwait, will be the first in which they meet together at that stage of the tournament in a historic and unique final.
Oman qualified for the final match at the expense of the Saudi national team by defeating them 2-1, while Bahrain defeated Kuwait (the host country) with an unanswered goal.
The Omani team is superior in terms of reaching the final match of the Gulf Cup compared to its Bahraini counterpart, by qualifying on five previous occasions, winning the title on two occasions and losing on three, while the Bahraini team qualified for the final on only one occasion and won it.
The Omani national team reached the Gulf Cup final for the first time in 2004, in Qatar, with the group system permanently applied for the first time, and lost the final match to the hosts on penalties, after a 1-1 draw.
While the second time was in the 2007 edition, which was held in the Emirates, and it lost to the Emirati “Al-Abyad”, the owner of the land, with a score of 0-1.
The Omani team qualified for the final of the Arabian Gulf Cup for the third time, which was held in Amman in 2009, and won over the Saudi team on penalties, after the match ended in a scoreless draw, which was the first title won by the Omani team in its history in the tournament.
The fourth final was for the Omani team in the 2017 edition, which was held in Kuwait, and the Omani team won it, after defeating the Emirati “Al-Abyad” in the final on penalties.
While the fifth and final final was for the Oman national team in the last edition in 2023, which was held in Iraq, where it lost to the hosts with a score of 2-3.
On the other hand, the Bahraini national team recorded a single qualification to the final of the Arabian Gulf Cup, during the 2019 edition that was held in Qatar, and the Bahraini Red team was then able to win its only title in the tournament, after defeating the Saudi national team with an unanswered goal.
The two teams met in 22 matches in the Gulf Cup tournaments, and Bahrain won eight times, compared to five times for Oman, while there were draws on nine occasions.
The superiority in the beginning was in favor of the Bahraini team, starting from the first confrontation between them on Kuwaiti soil in the third edition, as Bahrain won 4-0. Then the confrontation between them was renewed in the fourth edition, and Bahrain won 1-0.
The Bahraini team continued to excel in the fifth and sixth rounds, winning 3-1 and 4-1. The confrontation between the two teams was repeated in the seventh edition, so Bahraini supremacy continued with a 1-0 win.
A draw occurred between them for the first time in the eighth edition, as their confrontation ended in a goalless draw, while Bahrain regained its superiority again in the ninth edition, winning by two unanswered goals.
During the tenth edition, the two teams tied without goals, before Bahrain returned in the 11th edition and won 3-0.
There were draws between them in four consecutive editions from the 12th edition to the 15th edition, with three matches ending in a 1-1 draw, and once with a score of 2-2, while Bahrain won in the 16th edition with a score of 1-0.
The superiority of the Omani team reversed, as of the 17th edition, in which it did not know the taste of loss from Bahrain.
The Oman national team won three consecutive matches. In the 17th edition, it defeated Bahrain in the semi-finals, 3-2, and repeated its victory in that stage of the tournament in the 18th edition, but with an unanswered goal.
During “Gulf 19”, Oman won with two unanswered goals, while they tied twice in the 20th and 21st rounds, with scores of 1-1 and 0-0, respectively.
The two teams did not meet in the “Gulf 22”, and the two teams met again in the 23rd edition in Kuwait, and Oman won with an unanswered goal, and then they tied 0-0 in the 24th edition, while Oman won the last confrontation between them in the “Gulf 25” by three clean goals.
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