GULF CUP
Qatar 4-0 Yemen: Gulf Cup match report, goals, action
An early blitz from Qatar was enough to see them secure their first win in their first game in the Gulf Cup against Yemen, who struggled all over on the day.
Qatar 4-0 Yemen: match report
Qatar were 3-0 against Yemen in their opening game of the Gulf Cup as Yemen were left with a mountain to climb to get back into the game.
With their first attack, Qatar had opened the scoring through Akram Afif. They made it 2-0 after five, with their second attack with Almahdi Ali getting on the scoresheet.
That two was turned to three when Almoez Ali scored on 18 minutes. Pedro Miguel Correia got the last goal on 84 minutes and sealed all three points for his side with a big game against Iraz on the 26th coming up for the Qataris.
Qatar vs Yemen: Gulf Cup live online: live updates
Qatar vs Yemen: Gulf Cup live online preview
After the first day's action in the Gulf Cup that saw Saudi Arabia hang on to beat Kuwait 2-1 and UAE beat Oman 1-0 we have the first action from Group B as Yeman and Qatar face-off in the 23rd bi-annual competition.
Qatar
They might be hosting the World Cup in 2022 but their attempts to qualify for the upcoming one in Russia was very poor. They lost seven and won two of their ten games. Gone are the halcyon days of the early 90's when they were troubling the top 50 rankings, a feat they nearly managed again in 2006, peaking at 58. They currently rank 102 and will be hoping for a good run in the Gulf Cup to improve their stock once again on the international scene.
Their star man is Hasan Al-Haydos, a right midfielder who plays for Al-Sadd, who will be looking to cause trouble on Saturday afternoon. He has scored 14 goals in his 84 caps for his national side.
Their manager, Félix Sánchez from Spain, has never won with them in his five games. He was parachuted into the role in the middle of the doomed World Cup qualifying campaign and lost four of those games with a 1-1 draw with Iceland the best of the results. They will be hoping to get a win early against a weak Yemen side and will have one eye on Iraq on December 26th, which is the mouth-watering tie on offer in Group B.
Yemen
Many consider Yemen to be the weakest team in this edition of the Gulf Cup. Aside from Bahrain, they are the only team to have never won it. The bigger objective for them, however, is qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup, which would be their first international tournament qualification. They might look to use the Gulf Cup as a tournament to build confidence and to gel their team together in preparation for that game - they will have to beat Nepal in the qualifier in March so the timing is perfect.
They are ranked 120th in the World with only Kuwait behind them from all the teams in the tournament and the hosts have been suspended by Fifa for the last two years.
Their key player, Ala Al-Sasi, is a 30-year-old midfielder who plays in his native Yemen for Al-Ahli Club Sana'a. Their manager, Abraham Mebratu from Ethiopia, will have a close eye on who will and will not be able for the pressure in March against Nepal.