Oman edges Bahrain, enters Gulf Cup final

By Ashok Purohit
January 03, 2018

The Red Warriors celebrated the New Year in style on Tuesday when they edged past Bahrain 1-0 to book their berth in the final of the 23rd Gulf Cup at the Jaber al Ahmad International Stadium in Kuwait.

Oman will meet the winner of the other semifinal between Iraq and UAE, to be played later on Tuesday. The final will be played on Friday.

Bahrain’s Mahdi Abdul al Jabar’s own goal off a corner kick floated in by Oman’s Mohsin Jawhar in the 29th minute turned out to be the only goal of the semifinal. Jabar, under pressure from the Omani players in the box, headed the ball inside his own net past a diving Bahraini goalkeeper Said Shabr.

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Despite taking the lead through an own goal, Oman was a worthy winner as it dominated the first half with an attacking game and created far more chances than its opponent.

Minutes before the own goal, Oman’s Jameel al Yahmadi almost scored as his long-range effort off a free-kick was acrobatically saved by Shabr. And, the consisted aggressive approach adopted by Oman resulted in the goal following a mistake by Jabar.

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However, in the post-interval session, it was the brilliance of goalkeeper Faiz al Rusheidi that kept Oman’s citadel intact as he produced couple of superb saves to thwart the Bahraini attack.

Bahrain tried valiantly to find the equaliser, with five minutes of stoppage time at the end of the second half giving them hope but Oman held on to win and enter the fourth final.

Oman’s maiden final was in 2004 in Doha, Qatar where it lost to the hosts and then made successive entry into the final in the next edition in 2007 in UAE, where once again it had to settle for runner-up. It was in 2009 when Oman hosted the Gulf Cup that the Red Warriors under coach Claude Le Roy of France won its maiden title.