Abu Dhabi: Saudi Arabia trounced Yemen, the hosts of the 20th Gulf Cup, 4-0 in the opening match of the regional tournament which followed a colourful and beautiful opening ceremonies with displays of Yemen folklore and history.
Yemen, who lost in three previous matches to Saudi Arabia in the past four tournaments since they took part in 2003, made early defensive mistakes and the Saudis were on hand to punish them for that as they took the lead after only three minutes when Taiseer Al Jasim sent a curling free kick to Osama Al Muallad, the advancing defender, who headed home the first goal.
Yemen reorganised after the early goal and pressed forward hard for the equaliser and they took almost complete control of the first half but both Alaa Al Sassi and Ali Al Nono failed to score.
In the second half, the Saudis came back strong and forced the home players to retreat to their own half of the field and Mohammad Al Shalhoub, the Saudi captain and midfielder, was on hand to add the second goal in the 57th minute which broke all resistance from the hosts.
UAE referee, Farid Ali, who officiated the opening match awarded the Saudis a correct penalty in the 70th minute when Basem Al Aagl brought down Abbass Ahmad inside the box and Muhannad Al Aseeri converted correctly.
Al Aagl collected his first yellow card and after only two minutes he collected the second, also for a foul against Abbass and was sent off.
The last 20 minutes of the match was a one-sided game as the Saudis took complete command of the match and went further ahead in the first minute of injury time when defender Mishaal Al Saeed scored the fourth goal from a fast counter attacking move on the left flank to seal the result for his team.
How far do you think the UAE team can go in the Gulf Cup tournament? Do you think the absence of the under-23 players is a big loss?
