Ali Al-Nuaimi reveals weaknesses in Kuwait ahead of Iraq clash

Iraq are set to face Kuwait in the second round of the Gulf Cup 27 in Saudi Arabia at Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium at 6:55 PM local time in Mecca, Baghdad, and Kuwait City.

Iraq drew 1-1 with Oman in the first round of the tournament, while Kuwait lost 1-0 to hosts Saudi Arabia last Wednesday. The Lions of Mesopotamia and the Blue aim to reconcile with their fans in this crucial encounter.

Iraq are looking to regroup and correct the mistakes made in their first match against Oman, especially since the Iraqi team suffered from a drop in physical fitness during the second half. Forward Aymen Hussein attributed this to the high temperatures and humidity.

Former Iraq national team analyst Ali Al-Naimi stated that the Kuwaiti national team maintained its defensive structure against Saudi Arabia in their first match, with an average depth of 37.1 meters. He added that this line dropped to 39 meters in the first half, and despite the numerical density in the depth due to the 4-1-4-1 formation, the Kuwaiti full-backs struggled significantly in direct confrontations, with left-back Moaath Al-Dhafiri winning only 40% of his ground duels, winning 2 out of 5.

Rashed Al-Dosary, the right-back for the Kuwait national team, won only 55% of his ground duels, 6 out of 11. The Saudi national team recognized this weakness and exploited it by directing 74% of their total attacks down the flanks, with 40% coming from the left side and 34% from the right, avoiding the congested middle and benefiting from quick movement and attacking spaces.

He stated that in tomorrow's match, the Iraq national team must rely on individual breakthroughs from the Kuwaiti flanks and that he believes this approach is better than relying on crosses, especially since Iraq's crosses against Oman in the second half were ineffective. Statistics indicate that the Iraqi team executed 16 crosses throughout the match, of which only 7 were successful, resulting in an accuracy rate of 44%. Australian coach Graham Arnold needs to pay attention to these numbers and adjust his playing style for tomorrow's encounter.

The coach of the Iraq national team has stated that tomorrow's match requires an effective strategy to break the defensive block and to successfully implement Arnold's tactics of receiving the ball behind the defenders and in half-spaces. He sees the necessity of increasing the tempo of quick horizontal passing, as circulating the ball will force the Kuwaiti midfield quartet to continuously shift from one side to another, creating momentary gaps that players Ali Jasim, Hassan Abdul Knight, Mohammed Qassim, Ahmed Qasem, Yusuf Al-Nasrawi, and even Merchas Doski can exploit.

Exploiting it to isolate the full-backs of Kuwait in one-on-one situations and advancing directly towards the goal while relying on their skills to penetrate the depth and break into the penalty area is an option that will be more realistic than relying on aerial balls.