Kuwait team feeling positive, says coach Pizzi 

Kuwait head coach Juan Antonio Pizzi on Friday said his team was brimming with confidence going into Saturday's Gulf Cup 26 opener against former champions Oman.

“We are feeling positive going into the game because we have good preparations at our camp in Qatar. It will be a very difficult competition but we are happy with how we have prepared,” coach Pizzi said on Friday.

“No, there’s no pressure. We are feeling very positive. There is no pressure on the players who have gone through some tough training and preparations to be ready. We need the support of the fans to be behind us.

“We have prepared for both defence and offence in preparing for this tournament. All situations have been worked on so that we will be ready for the competition,” he said

When reminded that it have been 25 years since Kuwait beat Oman, Pizzi said: “No, statistics are history and in the past and we don’t care. We are just focused on the first game and, again, we need the support of the fans behind us to make a difference.” He added: “The preparation has been really excellent. But we have to now perform in the games. The players must be at their maximum level so that Kuwait can perform at our best to be in with a chance.”

Oman head coach Rasheed Jabir said on Friday: “We have had good preparations – we are ready for this competition and have been working hard since our World Cup qualifiers last month.
All the teams are here to compete for the competition so it will be very tough.”

When reminded about Oman’s 4-0 win over Kuwait in the World Cup qualifiers, Jabir said: “It is a different match this time. Kuwait have had a good preparation and it is the opening game so it will be difficult and especially in front of their fans.

“The pressure is always there and we can cope with it. We have ambition to get good results in this competition. This match against Kuwait is the first step which is very important and we will learn from any mistakes made to perform better and hopefully win.

“We learned from past experiences that the Khaleeji has surprise results, and there is always pressure from playing in such a big competition.

Except for Iraq, not everyone got the results they wanted in the latest World Cup qualifiers. If we reach the final and if we play all the games, it is five matches. The Arabian Gulf has different situations for all of the teams here, with all of us knowing that the results are very important to change the minds of the media and fans.

“We are here to compete and qualify through the group. But the first step is against Kuwait so we are not looking beyond that. We have to be prepared mentally as well as physically for this competition,” Jabir said.