Saudi Arabia win the Gulf Cup with two early goals

Saudi Arabia had their decisive advantage before the Gulf Cup final was a quarter of an hour old. Hammam Al Hammami scored in the 11th minute in Jeddah on Tuesday, and Firas Al Buraikan added another in the 13th. The UAE still had most of the evening in which to respond, but those two goals would be enough to bring the hosts their fourth title, secured with a 2 to 0 victory at Alinma Stadium.

It was Saudi Arabia’s first Gulf Cup triumph since 2004, ending a wait that had lasted more than two decades. Georgios Donis’s team also completed the competition without conceding a goal in five matches. Their quick opening in the final was supported by the defensive record they had maintained from the first group game onwards.

The UAE had an opportunity of their own before falling behind. Guilherme Bala found Nicolas Gimenez in the box in the third minute, but the midfielder’s overhead attempt went over. Soon afterwards, the hosts made a more productive use of a ball the UAE could not clear from a corner. Al Hammami’s shot took a deflection on its way past Khalid Essa, putting Saudi Arabia ahead.

Al Buraikan followed from close range two minutes later. Saudi Arabia could have increased the margin again when Saleh Abu Alshamat struck the woodwork. The UAE had allowed only one goal across their previous four matches, but had now conceded twice before a quarter of an hour was played. Their task was already much harder than anything they had faced on the way to the final.

Gimenez hit the post after Mamadou Coulibaly sent him through, showing that the UAE could find a route behind the Saudi defence. There was then a penalty decision in their favour after Bruno de Oliveira went down in the area. Gimenez was preparing to take it before a video review overturned the award before the interval. The chance to reduce the deficit from the spot had disappeared.

Mohammed Al Owais still had an important contribution to make after the break, stopping Sultan Adil from close range. Fabio de Lima struck the crossbar in the 88th minute, another reminder that the final score did not mean the UAE had been without chances. Their problem was that none of those openings became the first goal they needed to make the closing stages more uncomfortable for Saudi Arabia.

The individual awards reflected the contributions of the players most visible in the final. Al Hammami was named the tournament’s best player, Al Buraikan finished as leading scorer with three goals, and Al Owais received the award for best goalkeeper. Both scorers had supplied something immediate and decisive in the final; the goalkeeper’s recognition acknowledged the work that helped preserve it.

Saudi Arabia’s defensive record had already become a feature of their progress through the group. They beat Kuwait 1 to 0, Oman 3 to 0 and Iraq 2 to 0, taking all nine available points. Across those three matches they scored six times, with none conceded. The final brought their total to eight goals, while the figure at the other end remained unchanged. That consistency allowed different attacking performances to produce the results they needed.

Saudi Arabia needed a shootout to get past Qatar in the semi final, winning 3 to 2 after a goalless draw. That match had shown the value of keeping an opponent out when their own attack could not find a breakthrough. Against the UAE, the goals arrived early enough to change the task. The hosts had a lead to protect throughout most of the final, and their goalkeeper helped ensure it remained intact.

For the UAE, Tuesday was a painful ending to a tournament that had given them plenty of encouragement. They opened with a 4 to 0 win over Yemen, followed it with a 3 to 0 victory over Bahrain and drew 1 to 1 with Qatar. Ousmane Camara’s 22nd minute goal then settled the semi final against Oman. That run had taken them into a fourth Gulf Cup final with nine goals scored and just one conceded.

The final was Zlatko Dalić’s first defeat as UAE coach. A competition that had brought three victories and a place in the last two ended with chances missed and an early deficit they could not repair. The opportunities for Gimenez, Adil and Lima give the UAE passages of the match to reconsider, alongside the much more immediate damage caused by the two Saudi goals.

The victory puts Saudi Arabia level with Iraq on four Gulf Cup titles. Their previous success came in Kuwait, in a tournament that began in December 2003 and ended in January 2004.

Al Hammami and Al Buraikan will be remembered for the goals that settled it, but Al Owais’s contribution belongs alongside theirs. He was needed when the UAE looked for a way back, and finished with both a winner’s medal and the goalkeeper’s award. Saudi Arabia had found their lead early and kept it until the end, completing a tournament in which nobody managed to score against them.