Al-Riyadh newspaper | Al-Subhi’s double leads Oman to surpass Qatar… Kuwait surpasses the Emirates

Omani joy at winning

Issam Al-Subhi led the Oman national team to achieve its first victory in the first group of the Gulf Football Cup (Gulf 26) when he scored a brace against the Qatari national team in the match that brought them together yesterday, Tuesday.

Oman raised its score to four points to lead the first group, while Qatar bottomed the standings with one point.

Qatar, the Asian champion in the last two editions, started the match strongly and took the lead through Almoez Ali in the second minute after he received a wonderful pass from Ibrahim Al-Hassan and brilliantly put the ball over goalkeeper Ibrahim Al-Mukhaini.

But coach Luis Garcia’s team suffered a major blow after Lucas Mendez committed a foul on Al-Sobhi inside the penalty area.

Al-Subhi, the Oman striker, managed to score against goalkeeper Mishal Barshim from a penalty kick in the 20th minute.

Oman controlled the ball after the equalizer, and relied on the edges of the field to reach Barshim’s goal and almost scored the second goal when Al-Mundhir Al-Alawi sent a low pass from the right side that reached his colleague Abdul Rahman Al-Mushaifri, who shot very strangely wide of the goal.

Akram Afif almost restored the lead to Qatar immediately after the start of the second half when he started from the right side and fired a shot that deceived goalkeeper Al-Mukhaini, but it hit the net from the outside.

Oman’s response came quickly, as Al-Subhi scored the second goal in the 52nd minute from an attack that started from the left side.

Full-back Ali Al-Busaidi set off and sent a low pass that passed in front of the Qatar defense to find Al-Subhi at the far post, and he easily put it into the net, scoring his third goal in the tournament.

Qatar pressed for an equaliser, and substitute Abdul Rahman Mustafa sent a cross, but striker Ali lacked precision when executing a header.

Substitute Hammam Al-Amin exchanged the ball with Ali, but he shot wide of the goal before Mustafa’s shot hit Oman’s right post three minutes before the end.

The Kuwaiti national team achieved an exciting victory, its first in the 26th Zain Gulf Championship, over its Emirati counterpart yesterday evening, Tuesday.

At Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium, and in front of the fans who came to support Al-Azraq, Al-Azraq was able to score the three points in the confrontation against the UAE national team in a confrontation whose secrets were not revealed until its last breath.

The UAE national team opened the scoring in the match after only 5 minutes through Caio Canedo, who gave the advantage to the guests.

But Kuwaiti Blue returned the result in the 17th minute through the distinguished Mohammed Daham, who took advantage of a defensive lapse and equalized for the team.

In the second half, after back-and-forth between the two teams, Al-Azraq was able, in the 89th minute, to exploit a new defensive lapse to score Moaz Al-Asmaa, Al-Azraq’s second goal, giving his team the three points.

The Kuwaiti team raised its score to 4 points after two rounds against Zain Gulf, occupying second place in its group with the same score enjoyed by the Oman team, which leads the group standings. For its part, the UAE national team’s balance froze at one point in third place.