Civil war raging at home. Soccer players who struggle to play or get paid. A coach who never enters the country — it was not a surprise that Yemen exited the Asian Cup after losing all three games.
However, just qualifying for the tournament for the first time was an achievement for a country in the grips of what the UN says is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
With Yemen’s domestic soccer league suspended since 2014, there are few chances for players. Most of the 23-man squad at the Asian Cup plays in Oman and Qatar, where most of the federation is based. Only nine players in the squad are based in Yemen.
Photo: AFP
“There is no league at home and that does affect the national team in many different ways, especially physically,” goalkeeper Mohammed Ayash said. “It makes it much harder for us to play against strong teams like Iran, with players who play in Europe.”
Soccer in Yemen is virtually nonexistent apart from the occasional informal tournaments held in Sana’a. Most clubs have little to no income, often leaving professional players needing to seek alternative employment.
Ayash, who found work in the oil industry before securing a move to Iraqi club Erbil in November last year, said that divisions in Yemen are not reflected in the national team.
“The spirit is strong, we are together on this journey,” Ayash said. “If we were not united then we would never have been able to come here at all.”
Yemen benefited from the expansion of the Asian Cup from 16 to 24 teams. Qualification was clinched in March last year with a victory over Nepal in Doha. Yemen have not played home games since 2011, when anti-government protests broke out during the Arab Spring.
Ethiopian coach Abraham Mebratu delivered qualification, but left the job after being unable to get financial backing for tournament preparations. Jan Kocian, a Slovakian, is now in charge.
Ranked 135th in the world by FIFA, Yemen were thrashed in their opening game at the Asian Cup 5-0 by Iran, who are 106 places higher.
Games against Iraq and Vietnam also ended in defeat.
Yemen left the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with no points and no goals, but with pride at just having participated.
“Our problem is that the players abroad in Qatar and Oman did not have time for preparation and the players in Yemen can’t play football as there are no league games there,” said Kocian, whose contract states that he does not enter Yemen. “When you have more time, you can do more.”
The greatest achievement might be giving fans at home and in the UAE a chance to cheer on their team in a major international tournament.
“I’m very happy to see people from Yemen in the UAE,” Kocian said. “For people in Yemen the situation is very bad, for those who stay there the life is very hard, but maybe with victory we can give a good representation of them in the Asian Cup.”
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but