Millions of Gulf and Arab football enthusiasts are heading towards the South Stadium in the Qatari capital of Doha on Thursday to watch a heavy-handed football match as Saudi Arabia and Qatar meet in the semi-finals of the 24th Gulf Cup.
The match is witnessing a heated struggle over the visa to qualify for the final, in one of the strongest versions of the Gulf Cup.
The match between the two teams today is characterized by the flavor of the World Cup, which is held at the South Stadium in Al Wakra, one of the stadiums of the World Cup Qatar 2022.
Given the level of the two teams in the tournament and their nominations, the game will be an early final of the tournament, which has seen several strong confrontations so far, and all followers are still looking forward to a new episode in the series of excitement in this Gulf version.
While the circumstances of the two teams varied before the start of the tournament, their conditions are now similar before the game today, especially after they quickly eliminated the effects of defeat in their first game of the tournament and achieved two consecutive victories to qualify to the golden square.
Saudi Arabia's Al-Akhdar started his career in the tournament with a 1-3 defeat against his Kuwaiti counterpart, but he rose up and achieved successive victories over Bahrain with two goals without a reply, and Oman 3-1 to confirm that he is a strong candidate to compete for the Gulf title after overthrowing the Omani champions and lead the group in the first round .
The Saudi team had settled in to participate in this Gulf version only a few days before the start of the tournament, and the team faced a huge obstacle in the beginning of his career, which may have been a major cause of his defeat against the Kuwaiti team (Blue), where the team started his career in the Gulf championship last Wednesday Just two days after the Saudi Al Hilal match at Urawa Red Diamonds in Japan, where the "leader" crowned the title of the Asian Champions League.
With the return of Al Hilal players to the ranks of the green team looked completely different, and achieved two successive wins, and showed some of his real capabilities led by Renard to qualify and hit a date with the home team (Annabi), the home, which is supported by a large fan base.
On the other hand, the Qatari team rose strongly after losing in the opening match of the championship against Iraq 1-2, and achieved successive victories over his Yemeni counterparts with a clean six and UAE 4-2, to prove that he is already as expected, and that he can compete strongly to win the title after about a year on He won the Asian Cup.
Indeed, after qualifying for the Golden Square, Rennard said he was looking forward to a confrontation with the Qatari team in the Golden Square of the tournament, noting that he is happy with this encounter against the Asian champions on a field full of fans, because his team respects all competitors and does not fear any team.
"I had the chance to attend one of the Asian Cup matches between the Qatari and South Korean teams. I congratulate Spanish coach Felix Sanchez for his great work with the team," said Renard. Very few of our fans. "
Qatari coach Felix Sanchez said: "My confidence in the players of Qatar is great, and in every game I am confident that they will achieve outstanding results, so, I expected to win and know the value of the opponent, and the fact that in this tournament there were changes in the teams we faced in the last Asian Cup Like Iraq and the UAE. "
Sanchez pointed out that the next is the most difficult, and hopes that the players Annabi continue to perform with full force in search of qualification to the final and the beginning with the preparation for the semi-final.
Indeed, today's match between Al-Akhdar and Al-Annabi carries many other goals, especially the desire of Al-Akhdar to achieve a long-awaited victory over Al-Annabi for fear that the confrontations with Al-Annabi will become a complex.
During the last edition of the Gulf championship, hosted by Saudi Arabia in 2014, the Qatari national team clinched its third title in Dar Al Akhdar by defeating the hosts 2-1 in the final match at King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh.
The last match between the two teams ended with Annabi winning 2-0 in the group stage of the 2019 Asian Cup in the UAE.
His last win against Al-Annabi in the Gulf Cup was during the 15th Gulf Cup in Saudi Arabia in early 2002.
Since then, the two teams have met six times in the Gulf Cup tournaments, five of which ended in a draw, while the only win for Annabi in the final of the Gulf 22 in Saudi Arabia, note that the two teams met the same version in the first round and ended in a 1-1 draw.
Winning the Gulf title in the current edition is the jewel of the crown for an exceptional year in the history of Annabi, where the team began this year to win the Asian title for the first time, and the team also participated for the first time in the Copa America, hosted by Brazil in the middle of this year.
Saudi Arabia striker Hattan Bahabri was outstanding in the final game of the first round of the current tournament, scoring two goals to lead the Green to a precious 3-1 victory over the Omani team, also brilliant young striker Firas Al-Braikan (19 years) scored Two goals for the team in the tournament.
Salem Al-Dosari and defender Mohamed Abdo Khabrani were also in good form in the first round.
With the participation of Al Hilal players in the ranks of the team will be equal opportunities with the team of Qatar.
On the other hand, the first round matches saw the recovery of Abdul Karim Hassan, who scored three goals against Yemen, as well as Akram Afif, the winner of the Asian Player of the Year, as well as captain Hassan Al-Haidoos and young striker Al-Moez Ali, the top scorer of the 2019 Asian Cup.