Oman play out to a tame draw against Kuwait

Muscat: Hosts Oman settled for a goalless tie with Kuwait in the opening match of the 19th Gulf Cup last night at Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Bushar following a poor match.

Oman were under tremendous pressure with tickets of the match being sold within three hours only and the stadium was red after their fans displayed their team's colour, but their team played their worst match in the last three versions of the regional tournament.

The first half was mainly pressing attack from the hosts and a brave rock solid defence from Kuwait.

However, it was Kuwait who actually missed the best chance of the first 45 minutes when Badr Al Mutawaa sent Ahmad Ajab clear behind the home defenders, who thought that Ajab was offside, and the Kuwaiti striker went inside the penalty box and shot wide outside the open net in the 10th minute of the match.

Play was limited mainly to the midfield with some shy long range attempts from Saleh Al Hindi of Kuwait and Esmail Al Ajami and Hassan Al Hadhari of Oman.

The hosts failed to benefit from many dead ball situations just outside the penalty box of Kuwait because of good defending.

Claude Le Roy, the coach of Oman, and Mohammad Ebrahim of Kuwait both shuffled their cards in the second half but that did not change the result as the strikers of both teams squandered many easy chances, especially Hashim Saleh who could have secured the points for the home team when he was sent clear by Badr Al Mamani eight minutes before the end, but Saleh tried to go past the Kuwaiti custodian, who prevented a goal.

Both teams will face tougher opposition in their next two games with Iraq and Bahrain being the remaining teams in the group.