ShareBASRA: Kuwaiti lost its first match in the Arabian Gulf Cup (Khaleeji Zain 25) against Qatar on Saturday, with two clean goals in the first-round match of the second group of the tournament, which is being held in Basra and will continue until Jan 19. Qatar advanced in the first half of the match, which was held at Al Mina Stadium, with goals scored by Amr Abdel Fattah in the 23rd minute through a perfect shot from the edge of the penalty area and Ahmed Alaa El-Din in the 38th minute through a penalty kick.
The Kuwaiti team was active in the second half, and its players missed several chances through Eid Al-Rashidi, Shuaib Al-Khalidi, Mubarak Al-Fenini and Faisal Zayed. Qatar now tops the group with three points on goal difference from Bahrain, which finished second after winning earlier against the UAE. UAE and Kuwait occupy third and fourth places respectively without any points.
Sunday will be a rest day for all participating teams. Matches resume on Monday with two matches in the second round of Group A, as leaders Saudi Arabia play Iraq, the host of the tournament, and Oman play Yemen. Titleholders Bahrain gained three points after Kamil Al-Aswad and Jassim Al-Sheikh scored in the 60th and 77th minute, respectively. UAE's sole goal was scored at 92th minute.
The media center for the 25th Arabian Gulf Cup is working to overcome all obstacles and facilitate procedures for media professionals to enable them to cover the tournament. The media outlets include television channels, radio stations, news agencies and newspapers in the media center. Everyone works to keep abreast of the tournament and its accompanying events through interviews, reports, and newsletters. The 25th Arabian Gulf Cup is being hosted by Iraq for the second time after the edition of 1979.
The participation of teams of Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, and Yemen, were divided into two groups so that the first and second of each group qualified for the semi-finals. The opening matches of the football tournament are Iraq against Oman at 7:00 pm local time (16:00 GMT), followed by Saudi Arabia against Yemen in the same stadium. The Gulf Cup Federation approved the two stadiums, Basra International (capacity of 65,000 spectators) and Al-Minaa (30,000 spectators), for the "Gulf 25" group of matches, two stadiums located within the Sports City in Basra. - KUNA
