Riyadh: Qatar coach Djamel Belmadi attacked Yemen’s defensive tactics after his side were held to a goalless draw in the second round of Gulf Cup group matches on Sunday.
Yemen made history with the result, which added to their opening 0-0 draw with Bahrain sees them record more than one point in the group for the first time in a Gulf Cup tournament.
However, Belmadi was less than impressed with the implications that result had on his own sides’ chances, who, having drawn their opener 1-1 with hosts Saudi Arabia, must now win in their last game with Bahrain on Wednesday to stand any chance of survival.
“They tried to waste time on so many occasions,” he said. “It was clear that one team came to defend with 11 players and the other came to play and score goals.
“If you just see their celebrations at the end of the game, you can see they weren’t here to play football. They were just intent on breaking up our play everywhere with all of them staying behind the ball.
“It’s a style of football I hate, and even when I was a player, I never wanted to play like this. If their coaches and technical staff are happy with the way they play, it’s their opinion.
“We had a lot of chances and the only thing was we needed to score that elusive first goal. Had we been able to do so, the game – and result – would have been different.
“I’m just disappointed that we didn’t win the game because our players gave their best and I think they deserved to score, but it wasn’t the case. We had a target to win, but we didn’t reach that target.”
