Al Jawhar hails Kuwait coach's effort to build top team

Muscat: Saudi Arabia head coach, Nasir Al Jawhar, praised his Kuwaiti counterpart Mohammad Ebrahim after the Saudi team reached the final of the 19th Gulf Cup beating Kuwait by a single goal late on Wednesday.

"Mohammad [Ebrahim] is a hero." Al Jawhar said in complement. "He was able to build a formidable team for the future despite the conditions which faced the Kuwaiti football game before the tournament." Fifa has stopped the Kuwait national team from taking part in international competitions, including the Gulf Cup, because of the government intervention in their FA elections, but raised the ban only a week before the opening of the tournament after receiving a letter from the Emir of Kuwait promising to solve all the problems that hinder holding a free election to chose the members of the KFA.

"I didn't want to face him [Ebrahim] in the tournament because he transformed Kuwait to a tactical team which was capable of reaching the final and that was what they did tonight [Wednesday] giving us a hard time and playing an excellent match." Al Jawhar added.

About his team, Al Jawhar said: "We played a good match with the least of efforts because we tried to stop the Kuwait playmaker Masa'ad Nada and we succeeded in doing just that and when we attacked we created many scoring chances but scored one goal. It was enough to reach the final of the tournament which was our aim."

Regarding the final against the hosts, Al Jawhar said, "Oman has a good team and highly motivated. It will be a difficult match but both teams realise this fact and both teams are capable of winning the title. They are, simply, the best teams in the competition."

Meanwhile, Ebrahim praised his players and said: "I am proud of my players and my team. We played a good match, created chances but failed to score. I am satisfied with our performance and results in this tournament and I am sure that we have started going in the right direction for the future of the team."