Doha, Qatar: The Qatari national football team will take on the UAE team in their opening match on Saturday in the 26th Arab Gulf Cup (Khaleeji 26) held in Kuwait.

Earlier this month, the Qatar Football Association announced its appointment of Spanish manager Luis Garcia, who previously coached Espanyol, in place of Marques Lopez.

During the final training session before the UAE match, coach Garcia focused on finalising the team’s lineup and strategies, aiming for a strong start to the tournament that would set the stage for advancing to the semi-finals.

Stay tuned as we bring you match highlights and a glimpse of the football atmosphere at the venue!

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90′ + 4′ Full time. The spoils are share in a 1-1 draw.

90′ Four minutes of added time given.

86′ Canedo wins a freekick in a dangerous position for the UAE.

85′ Five minutes left for regulation time to end. Still anybody’s game.

70′ Fabio Lima tries from distance from the UAE but Barsham is alert and palms it away for a corner,

55′ UAE’s Fabio Lima tries from the corner flad but the plays it a bit shorter than needed and the ball hits the side netting.

45′ + 1′ GOAL! Yahya Al Ghassani equalizes from a spectacular solo effort. 

36′ An ambitious curler from UAE’s Harib Abdullah just barely misses the post, forcing Qatar’s stopper Barsham into a full one-handed dive.

31′ UAE score but the referee disallows the game due to Emirati forward Bruno being found offside.

16′ GOAL! Akram Afif scores for Qatar from the spot after a penalty was given for a handball violation by the UAE defender Khalifa Al Hammadi

10′ CLOSE! Ahmed Fathy plays Almoez through but his effort is wide. Qatar close to the opener.

4′ High intensity game from the get-go with both teams making plenty of forward charges 

1′ Kick off

Lineups

???? | Luis García’s Selections ????‍????

For our match versus UAE in our opening match of #KhaleejiZain26 ????.#AlAnnabi pic.twitter.com/TyGhkL4pis

— Qatar Football (@QFA_EN) December 21, 2024

Our line-up for our #KhaleejiZain26 opening game against Qatar ????#UAENT pic.twitter.com/VDAwSvXmcw

— UAE NT منتخب الإمارات (@UAEFNT) December 21, 2024