Riyadh: In the shadow of the shimmering Kingdom Tower, Riyadh’s side streets are a hive of activity in preparation for the 22nd Gulf Cup, which kicks off here on Thursday.
This regional eight-team football fiesta descends upon the Saudi capital for only the fourth time in the tournament’s 44-year history. And there’s an ardent belief here among locals that the Green Falcons can again make good on their home advantage to replicate their success at the last Gulf Cup held in Riyadh, which they won in 2002.
The three-time champions (1994, 2002, 2003) were made to wait for that first home win, following previous second and third-place finishes in Riyadh in 1972 and 1988 respectively. But the overwhelming feeling now is one of anxious expectancy, particularly after the disappointment of a shock group stage exit in the last Gulf Cup in Bahrain under Frank Rijkaard in 2013.
Add to that Riyadh club Al Hilal’s 1-0 aggregate defeat to Western Sydney Wanderers in the Asian Champions League final here last week, and Saudi fans will understandably feel they deserve a break.
Whether that respite comes under coach Juan Ramon Lopez Caro remains to be seen, but since replacing Rijkaard the Spaniard has breathed new life into the squad to qualify top of their group for next January 9-31’s Asian Cup — finally lifting them off their worst ever Fifa world ranking of 126th.
Just like the spring-like breeze whistling down Olaya Road — Riyadh’s main thoroughfare, which divides the city’s glittering and indomitable skyscrapers — there’s fresh hope around a capital relishing the change from the oppressive heat of summer.
From baggage handlers to baristas, customs officers to cab drivers, talk solely centres around Thursday’s big kick-off at the King Fahd International Stadium and the opening match between Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The King Khalid International Airport is decked in Gulf Cup billboards, showcasing the flags and star players of the participating nations, while the otherwise dusty and deserted half-hour drive into town is pockmarked by intermittent giant advertising boards detailing the same.
Passports are checked not with the usual inquiries into your line of business in the Kingdom, but with genuine and hospitable intrigue as to whether you believe the Greens can contend.
A welcome lobby of white and gold cushioned seats, dates and coffee, set aside for arriving teams, waits impatiently for the players — not least defending champions UAE, who, arriving in town from their camp in Damman on Wednesday, arguably carry with them the greatest threat to Saudi’s party.
The region’s footballing sleeping giant is once again threatening to awake from its slumber, but it will be the lone ambition of seven other nations to ensure Saudi rests a while longer, as Asian Cup aspirations are put on hold until the biennial question of regional supremacy is once again resolved.
