Saudi Arabia and the UAE are searching for a long-awaited title when they face off today at 9:00 pm at Al-Enmaa Stadium in King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, in the final of the twenty-seventh edition of the Gulf Football Cup. On home soil and among its fans, Saudi Arabia reached the final for the first time since 2019, by defeating Qatar in the semi-final on penalties after a goalless draw in regular and extra time. Today, “Al-Akhdar” will have the opportunity to regain the title that has been absent from its coffers since 2004 and raise its tally to 4 titles and thus rise to second place on the list of teams that have won the most titles, sharing with Iraq and with a difference of five from Kuwait (10, the last of which was in 2010). On the other hand, the UAE aspires to win the third title after waiting 13 years, inspired by its strong performances in the current edition of the tournament, which climbed to the podium for the last time at “Gulf 21” in 2013 in Bahrain when it won its third title (the first in 2007).
On the other hand, the UAE, which defeated Oman 1-0 in the semi-finals, did not dream of such an ideal attendance under the leadership of its new Croatian coach, Zlatko Dalic, who took over the leadership of “Al-Abyad” a week before the start of “Gulf 27”. However, he succeeded in finishing the group round in the lead with 7 points after two wins and a draw, with eight goals scored for the first time since the tournament was held in a two-group system.
Al-Abyad also kept a clean sheet in three of the four matches it has played so far, and conceded one goal in a 1-1 draw against Qatar in the last round of the first round, during which it fielded a reserve squad after securing its qualification to the semi-finals.
Today’s final against Saudi Arabia will be the strongest test for coach Dalic’s squad, who considered that his opponent “has additional strength by playing in front of his fans.”
The UAE Football Association tried to narrow this audience gap, after it announced the flight of 12 private planes to Jeddah and the purchase of tickets for its fans, who are expected to reach 12,000 spectators, according to the quota allocated to them in the stadium.
Saudi national team coach Denis: Set pieces are our weapon
Greek Georgios Donis, coach of the Saudi national team, bet on the capabilities and tools he possessed in the green and high-spirited ranks, to win the “27th Gulf Cup” title.
Donis said during the press conference: “We have players with great potential and high spirit, and the players give everything they have to achieve victory.”
He added: “Every match is different from the other. In the last confrontation we played against a difficult team, Qatar. It was not easy to overcome a group that relied on defense, in addition to the conditions and atmosphere being very difficult. In 14 days, we played 4 strong confrontations.”
He stated: “In the final, we will focus heavily on set pieces, and we will make sure to choose the best in both the defensive and offensive aspects. We must create opportunities inside the penalty area in order to reach the goal and achieve victory.”
Croatian Zlatko, UAE coach: The final is the easiest match!
Croatian Zlatko Dalic, coach of the UAE national team, described facing his Saudi counterpart as the easiest match. Zlatko said during the press conference: “Today’s confrontation will be the easiest match, because it is a final, and I hope that the players will enjoy the match, as well as the fans in the stadium and in front of the television screens.”
He added: “Over the past 24 hours, we have worked to prepare ourselves. We thank our fans for their support. I have great confidence in the players and their ability to achieve the title. We will try to take advantage of all the opportunities that will be available to us. We realize that our opponent is strong and difficult, but we must be at the highest levels of focus and presence on the defensive side.”
He continued: “We did not have enough time to give everything we have, but we will do our best in the final. I have enough experience to give everything I have to serve the Emirates, and we all strive to achieve positive results.”
Muhammad Kanno: We seek a solution within 90 minutes
Mohammed Kanno, captain of the Saudi national team, expressed their readiness to compete in the final. He said: “We are ready. We realize that reaching this stage was one of our goals, and we are striving to achieve the cup. We, the players, are implementing the instructions of the technical staff in order to reach our goals.”
He continued: “We have to implement the coach’s plan, and the fans did not neglect us against Qatar in the last match, and they were like player number 12, and we hope they will attend in large numbers today, and continue to support us.” At the end of his speech, Kanno promised and said: “In the last confrontation, we reached penalty kicks and were able to win. As everyone knows, penalty kicks depend on luck, and in the final confrontation we seek to decide the result in the original rounds.”
Khaled Issa: I hope this is the beginning of the harvest
Khaled Issa, captain of the Emirati national team, said, “I thank the Emirati fans for their stance and support for us. We have gone through several challenges during the last period. Bad luck was sometimes the reason for not achieving the results we aspire to. I hope that today’s confrontation will be the beginning of the harvest and the beginning of a new phase of winning championships.”
Issa concluded by saying: “Zlatko knows what a player needs in order to be ready to give his best. I still remember what happened in the 2016 season with the Al Ain team. Our results were bad with another coach, but after Zlatko’s arrival the situation changed, and he succeeded with us until we were able to achieve a championship within the first month.”
A Moroccan whistle sets the final of “Gulf 27”
Moroccan international referee Jalal Jaid leads the Saudi team’s confrontation against its Emirati counterpart in the final of the Gulf Cup “Gulf 27”. He is assisted by his compatriots Zakaria Prinsi and Mustafa Akrakad, while Kuwaiti Abdullah Jamali takes over as fourth referee, and his compatriot Saud Al-Shamali takes over as fifth referee. In the video assistant referee (VAR) technique, Moroccan Hamza Al-Farq was appointed as video referee, Dutchman Arwen Blanck was appointed as assistant video referee, and Bahraini Ismail Habib was appointed as assistant video referee, while Omani Ibrahim Al Hosani assumed the role of referee evaluator.