Head Coach Ameen Ali Hussein Al-Sunaini says his country is facing one of the worst humanitarian and economic crisis in modern history and that the junior team is here in Goa to their best in the AFC U-16 championships.
BASIL SYLVESTER PINTO
Panaji
On the eve of playing their first game in a Group D clash against North Korea, in the ongoing AFC U-16 Championship, Yemen Head Coach, Ameen Ali Hussein Al-Sunaini made a statement that they have come here to play good football so that they can cheer their supporters back home as the country is facing one of the worst humanitarian and economic crisis in modern history.
Yemen U-16 incidentally came into the competition on a lucky break given that Group F winners Kuwait in the qualifiers were suspended, and they advanced into the 16-team main competition as Group A runners-up, the next best-placed team in the qualifiers.
When The Goan pointed out this fact that they got an opportunity to participate in the tournament by virtue of default and they have a point to prove, the Yemeni gaffer had this to say: “This is one of our targets. It is not the first time Yemen has qualified for the AFC U-16 Championship. I think we have reached here at least 2 or 3 times before. We have even made it to the finals once in 2002. I hope our performance is good. We realise our preparations have not been enough to play a tournament of such magnitude. But I hope we do our best.”
Looking at their records, the Yemeni U-16 Head Coach stands vindicated and they are not a side to be taken lightly in the competition. The AFC U-16 Championship records highlight the fact that the Yemenis mark their fifth appearance at the mega tournament. In fact, their debut tournament in 2002 was memorable where they only could not make it across the last hurdle. In the final that year, they were beaten on penalties by Korea Republic.
On their preparations for the tournament, Al-Sunaini said: “It has been a difficult situation for us. Everyone knows that back in Yemen it has been difficult for the team but we have tried our best to prepare our team."
“We have been to Malaysia for a week. We only started our preparations two months ago,” he revealed on their low-key preparations ahead of the mega Asian tournament. On the Asian teams grouped along with them, he said it would be a good competition. “We trust our players and hope they play to potential. Our ambition in this tournament is to showcase Yemen’s football skills to Asia. We want to show the continent that we have good players, ours is a good team. Like Uzbekistan, Thailand and DPR Korea who are also in our group, we are prepared for this tournament.”
Talking about the challenges they had in coming here given the trying circumstances back home and how they look at their Group D opposition, the Yemen U-16 coach had this to say: "The team has faced many difficulties in preparing the team. In fact, we had a hard time in Yemen to arrive in India to participate in this championship. The group is very strong especially when we face teams like DPR Korea, Uzbekistan and Thailand.”
