Riyadh: Yemen coach Miroslav Soukup expressed pride and hope for the future as his side gracefully bowed out of the Gulf Cup with a 1-0 defeat to hosts Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

The underdogs recorded more than one point in the group phase of the tournament for the first time in their history with two opening goalless draws against Bahrain and Qatar.

They then went in search of their first-ever victory in the competition against Saudi, but it wasn’t to be. Ahmad Alos had two bursting runs down the flank and into the box either half but his efforts petered out in front of goal.

Nawaf Al Abid, meanwhile, buried Taisir Al Jasem’s corner on the half-hour mark to steal a win.

Saudi topped Group A on seven points with that win following an opening 1-1 draw with Qatar and a 3-0 win over Bahrain, meanwhile Qatar scraped second on three points from three draws with Saudi 1-1, Yemen 0-0, and Bahrain 0-0.

Meanwhile, Bahrain and Yemen, who had drawn their opening match together 0-0, slipped out of the competition on two points. Despite the early exit, Soukup said his team — who are ranked 80-90 positions lower than their group opponents — had performed admirably.

“This tournament was one big experience for us,” he said. “We finished third in our group and only one point behind Qatar. “If someone had told me that before the Gulf Cup, I’d have maybe replied that he was crazy because it would have seemed like it was impossible for us to stay there.

“Our players have played only six games together after all, two of which were just before this competition.”

Looking to the future, the Czech national said there was hope for his team.

“We’ve taken two or three small steps forward over the last six months. I know we still make a lot of mistakes and we’re not a strong team. Our level remains very low, but we are on the right track and our team has good potential for next year.

“Only a great tournament like the Gulf Cup can make you open your eyes to your mistakes. Now, we have a lot of things to improve upon in the future.

“There’s a lot of emotion swirling around right now, but we must sit down after this period and quietly think about the future; all of the players and analyse their individual performances.

“We must continue working with this team and maybe change a few players and watch some others from the Yemeni League to see if they are better.”