Premiere for the small Gulf Cup tournament, as the Gulf Cup will be in the companies, and the home and organizing Saudi Arabia welcomes Qatar to the two big players' first-group match.
As always in the first game we expect both teams to be careful and with a lot of attention to the defense, since Yemeni's presence in the group guarantees that every lost grade will be a problem for the qualification qualification.
The Saudis for the first time in years have not had a really big player, a very strong personality, as in previous events Sami Al Jaber, Yasser Al Qahtani or Mohammed Al Shalboub. It is a team that has been suffering a lot in this decade, with constant losers and with players constantly accused of having no soul and not passionately playing for the team.
After Rijkaard, Brazilian Ramon Lopez has been trying to match his team for the last 10 months and has done a very good job, but has not yet managed to eliminate the pathogens that the team has seen over the years. For many, Saudi Arabia is considered to be a favorite of the organization, mainly due to the fact that the teams do not have big differences and, as I said, the stars of the past are missing.
Qatar's multinational has changed rotation under the direction of Algerian Belmadi and is trying to build a group more in the climate of the region. So the Latin-Americans playing in the team did not get on the mission, not even the big scorer Sebastian Soria. Instead, alongside the many black Africans of the group, two Algerians, Boudiaf and Khoukhi, were expected to take on the team's biggest weight in creation. There is also the great absence of Ibrahim Khalfan, which deprives several things in the creative field.
I expect both opponents to be very careful in today's game. I see Qatar well enough to exploit the aggression that the Saudis have to show in their country. Guests have the quality and ability to score in a counter-attack and set the home side with their back to the wall. But on the other hand, it will not be strange to see a soup and both opponents with 0-0. The club is curious and a tie can give them the lead for qualifying, since both have the ability to load Yemen with many goals.
The last 4 matches of the two teams in the Gulf Cup ended in a draw with 0-0, 1-1, 0-0, 0-0. I think the draw is quite likely in today's game.