Starting and finishing yesterday, the "Gulf Cup for Veterans" in Kuwait achieved tremendous success in its first edition, confirmed the star of the Iraq national team among veterans Mustafa Karim. He noted that such a tournament should be held regularly. "The goal of the tournament was achieved," said Karim, expressing confidence that "the gathering of veterans who showed themselves in the Gulf Cup tournaments over its history represents a wonderful opportunity to return to memories of the past."
The Iraq national team won the title of "Gulf Cup for Veterans" in its first edition, defeating the Oman national team (4-3) in the final match through a series of penalties after a draw in regular time. The tournament, organized by the Gulf Football Union, took place in Kuwait from February 22 to 26 with the participation of all eight teams, including the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen.
The Iraqi national team received the cup, gold medals, and a cash prize of 200 thousand dollars during the closing ceremony at the Jaber Al-Ahmad Stadium, while the Oman national team received a prize for second place: silver medals and 150 thousand dollars. Nuru Sabri from Iraq was recognized as the best goalkeeper of the tournament, and his teammate in the team, Karar Jasim, received the award for the best player. The title of best bomber of the tournament went to Ismail Ajami from the Oman national team.
The UAE national team finished the tournament at the first stage after taking the last place in Group A with two points from two draws with Qatar and Kuwait and a defeat by Oman. Mustafa Karim, a former professional in the UAE with Sharjah and Bani Yas, expressed his opinion about the tournament and emphasized that it would be better to have breaks between match days in the tournament so that players could recover better.
He also noted that at the beginning of the tournament, there were some organizational and refereeing errors, but hopes that in future editions, this will be corrected. Fuadi Bashir, a former player of the Oman national team among the veterans, who played previously in the UAE for Ajman and Bani Yas, highly rated the level of competing teams in the tournament, noting that he considers Juma Al-Drooshi the best player of the tournament from those he observed.
"The tournament represents a wonderful gathering of the states of the Persian Gulf, which includes players who showed themselves in the previous editions of the Gulf Cup," Bashir emphasized, adding: "This tournament was a wonderful opportunity for reminiscing with former players, and I believe that in future editions, it will continue to develop even better."
