The Gulf cup for olympic teams starts tommorow in Qatar.The former champs are Saudi Arabia.There are six teams divided into 2 groups with first two qualifying for semis. GROUP A- Qatar,Bahrain and Oman. GROUP B - Saudi Arabia,Kuwait and Yemen Saudi takes on Kuwait along with Qatar taking on Oman in the first matches.The rest fixtures follows here-http://goalzz.com/main.aspx?c=5426&week=true. It is good preparations for olympic qualifiers... BEST OF LUCK FOR ALL TEAMS..
View from Bahraini press: BAHRAIN'S under-23 Olympic soccer team watched from the sidelines last night as Oman upset hosts Qatar 2-0 in the opening match of the second GCC Olympic Soccer Championship, being played at Aspire Academy Stadium in Doha. The Bahrainis are only scheduled to play their first match tomorrow. They take on the victorious Omanis, who will be looking to secure their berth in the semi-finals. A win for Oman will assure them of first place in preliminary group 'A', while a win for Bahrain will keep things open until the last day of the opening round. Yaqoob Abdulkarim and Mansoor Al Nuaimi were on target for the Omanis yesterday. Abdulkarim scored in the 36th minute to help give his side a slim 1-0 edge at half-time. Qatar's Nasser Nabil Salem was then given a golden opportunity to equalise from the spot in the 51st minute, but he missed. That deflated the Qatari hopes, and Al Nuaimi made them pay with a late goal four minutes into stoppage time to seal the win. Scouted Bahrain's Olympic team head coach Georg Zellhofer watched the match from the stands with the rest of the team. Zellhofer scouted his upcoming opponents and began preparing for tomorrow's crucial clash. Zellhofer then conducted one training session last night on the side pitches of Aspire Academy. The Austrian focused on practising his team's strategy for their match against Oman. http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=283369
UAE looked great last night. Ahmed Khalil is one to watch out for. I hope he gets to play in Europe. If he puts his mind to it, and doesnt fool around like most Arab players who get a chance abroad, he could make it.
The 3rd Gulf Cup of Nations for Olympic teams kicks off in August, once again in Qatar. 6 teams will play in two groups of 3 Group A - Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia Group B - Oman, Bahrain, UAE Roll of Honour 2008: Saudi Arabia (Round Robin) 2010: UAE 1:0 Kuwait Best of luck to all teams participating, but where's the rest of the Gulf members?
The Qataris got thumped by Saudi Arabia, in front of their home supporters. Certainly not the best way to start the tournament. Once again, I don't expect much from Kuwait. I think Saudi Arabia and the UAE have the best youth teams in the region so far, therefore I expect to see both teams playing in the final. Good luck to all participants, anyhow.
2nd Match day results: Saudi Arabia 2:0 Kuwait UAE 2:3 Oman Thats Saudi through to the semi's. Qatar need to beat Kuwait by 2 goals to qualify. In Group B, UAE need to win by one goal against Bahrain to send themselves and Oman through. A draw takes Bahrain and Oman through.
Final group games were played yesterday: Qatar 2:1 Kuwait - This put Qatar through to the semi's along with group winners Saudi Bahrian 1:5 UAE - This sent Bahrain out, put UAE on top. Semi's lineup: UAE - Qatar Saudi Arabai - Oman
Once again, the game for 5th place was decided between Bahrain and Kuwait. And just like our U-17 Gulf Cup encounter, we ended up losing to the Bahrainis. I watched some of that game last night. We ended up going to penalty shootouts and we couldn't score a single goal. The player who missed the second penalty kick smirked after failing to score. He freaking smirked. I mean, what was that all about LOL? And right after he smirked, he ruffled his own hair like he was proud of it. Dear God, Kuwaitis are no longer interested in sports. There was no intent to win the game. This is no team of the future, by any means. I was disappointed with our coach, Maher Al Shamery, and the excuses he threw at us in the post-match interview. All he did was blame his team's shortcoming on the referees. It's not good enough, in my opinion. This is a very old excuse and we've been hearing it for the past 10 years. When are the Kuwaitis governing our sports bodies going to understand that the only way they're ever going to improve is when they realize they have to start working again? All I see them doing is pointing fingers at each other and/or using scapegoats for their failures, instead of trying to improve football in the country.
The Oman vs. Saudi Arabia match was one of the best matches I've seen on the Khaleeji stage, in a very long time. It was the strictest definition of end-to-end, fast-paced football. Both sides were attacking, both sides left it open, and we were therefore treated with some of the best football the Gulf has produced in quite a while. Saudi Arabia were inches away from scoring an equalizer, very late in the game, with only a few seconds remaining. I don't think the final is going to be as exciting as that semi-final encounter was. I think some of the Omani players have a good future in this sport, as long as they stay determined and maintain their fitness levels. They are highly talented in football; it's no wonder their national team was given the nickname "Sambas of the Gulf". Their only concern should be the defense, which was vulnerable and provided a lot of 'easy' spaces for the Saudis to exploit. Good game, though. I hope some of the other BigSoccer members watched it.
I did not watch the full match.After 3-1 at half time I was bit optimistic to turn the match around and we almost did it.Anyways hard luck to the team and we were also missing Saoud Hamoud due to injury which affected us in front. One advantage we got is we have both Qatar and Oman in our qualifying group and now we have got a better read of both the teams,which we must note down and create a master plan for them.
Oman are champs. Winning 4:2 on penalties after a 0:0 draw with UAE. Saudi Arabia won the 3rd place playoff, 2:1 over Qatar.