Arabian Gulf Cup: Omani Team to Defend Its Title by Facing Bahraini Counterpart Tomorrow

Doha, November 26 (QNA) - Oman's national football team will kick off the defense of its title on Wednesday when they meet their Bahraini counterparts at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium at Al Duhail, in the opening match of the Group B teams in the first round of the Arabian Gulf Cup, which kicked off in Doha today and will continue until December 8 with the participation of 8 teams. The draw for the group stage includes Oman, the defending champions, in Group B along with the teams of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait. Group A includes Qatar, Iraq, Yemen and UAE. Oman won the Gulf Cup twice, the first in the 2009 edition held in the Sultanate on penalties against Saudi Arabia, and the second in the last edition which was held in Kuwait against the UAE on penalties as well. Oman head coach Erwin Koeman has confirmed his team's ability to compete to win the title of the Arabian Gulf Cup in its 24th edition. He pointed out that facing Bahrain will be difficult, as it is one of the organized teams and have players with distinct levels. He explained that the Omani team came to Doha in order to win and the title, but this will come only by providing all needed efforts, fighting and struggling on the pitch. Koeman said the second group includes strong teams, but he was confident the players would be able to appear at high levels and avoid the pressure to maintain the title. On the other hand, Bahrain aspires to win the title of the Arabian Gulf Cup for the first time in its history, after a long wait since the launch of the first edition of Bahrain in 1970. The team is led by Portuguese coach Helio Sousa, who briefly managed to restore the prestige of Bahrain's football after leading the team to the first title in West Asia, in addition to the good technical tactics provided by the team in the qualifying matches for the 2023 Asian Cup in China and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Sousa said his team had come to their best in the tournament, but warned against the opening match on Wednesday against defending champions Oman in Group B. Bahrain coach stressed that his first goal is to reach the semi-finals, and then play for the final round and the title that all Bahrainis dream of winning for the first time. (QNA)