Since I don’t know much about football, I asked my cousin for his opinion and here is what Fawaz thought:
“I think that the game was played today by our team without a real target of winning in mind, because this game had different circumstances surrounding it; the opening game of the cup, the ban being just lifted and the fact that it took place in Oman and that the Omani team is considered a serious contender to win the whole cup. All of this led the Kuwaiti team, again in my opinion, to want to come out with a nil-nil outcome. This is based on their performance on the first half, However, The way they played, especially on the second half of the game gave them (and us) great hope and confidence to play better the next time around and for the other teams to reevaluate our national team.
The substitutions that happened in the second half by Mohammed Ibrahim went accordingly with his strategy and plans; to sustain the team’s performance to wrap up the game and still end up in a good shape.
Now, when it comes to who played the best and who lost many opportunities, then it is Bader alMutawwa and Ahmad ajab, respectively. And the man of the match, in my opinion, is Nawwaf Alkhaldy, our goal keeper, who defended his goal and held his own in spite of the many shots that came toward him.”
And another friend thought:
“in any other game the performance of Oman’s Ali Alhabsi would be ample to earn him the game’s man of the match, But surely was out shone by the impressive display shown by Kuwait’s number one stopper, Alkhaldy, who put on a sensational string of saves that are truly worthy of man of the match accolade. The goal keeper not only kept his side in the game but kept a secure feeling that had the back four faulted he would step up to the challenge.”
