Riyadh: Defending champions UAE frittered away a two-goal lead to be held to a 2-2 draw by Kuwait in a crucial Gulf Cup group match at the Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Stadium on Monday. It was their second successive draw after a goalless opener with Oman on Friday and now renders their last match with Iraq vital if they are to get out of the group.
An Ali Mabkhout double put The Whites 2-0 in front after the half hour, but Kuwait levelled it before the interval with two in two minutes from Yousuf Sulaiman and Bader Al Mutawa.
Record 10-time champions Kuwait had won their opening game 1-0 against 2013 runners-up Iraq on Friday and were favourites heading into this encounter, having 10 wins to the UAE’s seven in 18 previous Gulf Cup meetings.
Defending champions UAE, meanwhile, had beaten Kuwait 1-0 the last time they played together in the semi-finals of last year’s tournament. The Whites had started this latest campaign poorly with a goalless draw against Oman on Friday, which made this game pivotal to their qualification hopes.
UAE coach Mahdi Ali made just one change from that opening draw, switching Walid Abbas for Abdul Aziz Haikal at left back and morphing from a 4-4-2 to 4-2-3-1 formation.
The results were immediately evident. A team that had only scored twice in the last seven games, with the exception of a 3-2 friendly win over Lebanon last week, were suddenly dangerous in front of goal again, buoyed by a now fully-fit Omar Abdul Rahman.
Ali Mabkhout and Esmail Al Hammadi both came close in the first quarter with the former tackled in front of goal and the latter heading onto the crossbar from a corner. Mabkhout made up for it soon after when Omar played him into space on the counter — allowing him to round his marker and chip over the advancing keeper for the opener on 18 minutes.
Al Hammadi could have added a second but he sent a deflection off the keeper’s legs wide before Mohannad Salem headed wide from Omar cross.
An tandem move between Omar and Amer Abdul Rahman then saw Amer tee Mabkhout up for his second, a belter into the top corner from the edge of the area just after the half hour.
Kuwait pulled two back within two minutes, first when Yousuf Sulaiman easily headed in Bader Al Mutawa’s cross on 37 minutes and then Al Mutawa sent a screamer into the top right soon after.
Salem headed another effort wide from an Amer corner after the break, before Musaed Al Enezi hit the side netting from a freekick up the other end in a comparatively quieter second half.
