Portuguese coach, Paulo Bento, is competing for the first time in the Gulf Cup football competitions, leading the national team in “Gulf 26”, which begins the day after tomorrow in Kuwait. Despite this, he has achieved very good results against the Gulf teams since he took over as coach of “Al-Abyad” in July. 2023, makes him an expert in tipping the balance in the national team’s favor towards achieving the title.
The coach of the Portuguese national team in the 2014 World Cup and South Korea in the 2018 World Cup, he led the national team in 21 matches, winning 13 matches, drawing three matches, and losing five matches, while he played eight matches against Gulf teams, during which he achieved victory in Six matches, tied one match, and lost the same.
The national team, led by Pinto, won over Bahrain 2-0, Yemen 2-1 and 3-0, and Qatar 3-1 and 5-0 in the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup. It also beat Kuwait in a friendly 1-0, while it tied with Bahrain won 1-1 in the World Cup qualifiers, and lost in a friendly match to Oman 1-0 before competing in the 2023 Asian Nations Cup.
The national team plays in the first group, which includes Kuwait (the host), Qatar, and Oman, while the second group includes Iraq (the defending champion), Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Yemen.
The national team is distinguished by the fact that Paulo Bento chose a wonderful mixture of experienced players and young players, as the Portuguese coach made extensive changes, and used young elements and new faces, who were called up for the first time, as the Emirati fans have high hopes for the team to continue the good results it achieved in the last period, After last November, it defeated Kyrgyzstan 3-0 and Qatar 5-0 in the World Cup qualifiers.
Pinto seeks to win the next Gulf title, and write his name next to the late French coach Bruno Mesto and national coach Mahdi Ali, when they led the UAE national team to win the 18th and 21st Gulf Cups in the UAE and Bahrain in 2007 and 2013.
Metsu is unique in that he led Al-Abyad to achieve the first foreign title in its history, and before that he also led Al-Ain to achieve the 2003 AFC Champions League title, for the first time in the history of UAE clubs.
As for coach Mahdi Ali, he achieved the second Gulf title, and is unique in that he is the first national coach to win an important championship for his country’s first team. He also led “Al-Abyad” to achieve the bronze medal in the Asian Nations Cup in Australia 2015.
The team is looking forward to achieving its third Gulf Cup title, when it participates in the 26th edition of the tournament, which continues until January 3rd.
The national team is participating for the 25th time in the tournament, as it did not participate in the first edition of the tournament, which was held with the participation of only four teams before the Gulf teams participated in succession. And throughout the history of its participation, the UAE team was crowned twice with the title in 2007 and 2013, and also won second place four times in the 1986 editions. 1988, 1994, 2017, and also won third place four times in 1972. 1982, 1998, 2014.
In total, the UAE national team played 114 matches in Gulf championships, winning 41 matches, drawing 29, and losing 41 matches. Its players scored 119 goals, and conceded 139 goals.
. Pinto is looking forward to winning the third Gulf title in the history of Emirati football after “Gulf 2007” and “Gulf 2013.”
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