COACH: Nabil MAALOUL (TUN)
CAPTAIN: Nawaf AL KHALDI (Al Qadsia)
NICKNAME: Al Azraq (The Blues)
ASIAN CUP APPEARANCES: 9 (1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2011)
BEST FINISH: Champion (1980)
FIFA RANKING: 125
AFC RANKING: 15
HOW IT QUALIFIED: Group B runner-up behind Iran, but only had two wins from six matches.
RECENT FORM: A draw and two losses at the Gulf Cup, including a 5-0 thrashing by group opponent Oman dampened expectations. A 1-1 draw with Iraq prior to Christmas was supposed to followed by a match with United Arab Emirates but that was abandoned in controversial circumstances last weekend.
MAIN MAN: Bader AL MUTAWA (Al Qadsia)
A versatile and explosive player whether operating through the middle, as a second striker or in a wider role. A veteran of the side but at 29 should be in the prime of his career – in the absence of Fahad Al Enezi, Al Mutawa may have to shoulder the load of being both creator and finisher.
ONE TO WATCH: Yousef NASSER (Kazma)
A similar style of player to Al Mutawa but five years younger and the man who will be relied upon the score the bulk of Kuwait's goals.
OVERVIEW:
Kuwait is a country steeped in Asian Cup history. It was the first Arab nation to reach the finals (along with Iraq in 1972); and also the first to both host and win the tournament (in 1980).
Two years after that triumph, in a golden period for football in the country, it reached the World Cup finals although controversy would follow.
Sheikh Fahah Al Sabah, the then President of the Kuwait Football Association, marched onto the pitch during a group stage match with France and, in farcical scenes, convinced the referee to overturn a controversial decision.
Sheikh Fahad was killed by Iraqi forces during the 1990 invasion but his son, Sheikh Ahmed, and other family members have continued to cast a lengthy shadow over football in the country – and not without their critics.
Many point to the continued dominance of players from the club most commonly associated with the family, Al Qadsia, on the makeup of the national team and that continues here with 10 of the 23-man squad drawn from its ranks.
The domestic league is a mixture of clubs with budgets strong enough to draw players from Europe and South America and those barely scrapping to get by.
Several former and current coaches associated with the nation have told me privately that they consider the lack of a genuinely professional competition has hampered development in the nation as others in the region – notably Qatar and UAE – have zoomed past this once proud footballing country.
In recent years, some by design and some by accident, controversy has dogged Kuwaiti football.
After winning the Gulf Cup in 2010, it failed to reach the final in either of the past two editions, lost all three matches at the previous Asian Cup and failed to get anywhere near qualifying for successive World Cups.
In the midst of all that, In August 2012 its coach, Goran Tufegdzic, was shot by a neighbour in his native Serbia over a property dispute and spent several days in intensive care.
After the departure of Tufegdzic, Brazilian Jorvan Vieira took over but after winning just one of three matches at the Gulf Cup he was dismissed and replaced by Nabil Maaloul barely a month out from the tournament.
The side drew 1-1 with Iraq in late December and then more trouble followed with the nation's final warm-up match against UAE called off last weekend in shambolic scenes with police having to be called after a dispute over recording the match.
The team has won just three of its past 12 matches, all of which points to the side being at long odds to progress from the group.
That despite Vieira's brash claims at the draw last year that the side was not afraid of any nation at this tournament.
Defensively the team is vastly experienced with goalkeeper and captain Nawaf Al Khaldi boasting more than 100 international caps. The probable first-choice central defensive pairing – Musaed Al Enezi and Hussein Fadhel are the only two foreign based players in the squad.
There will likely be two screeners in front of that pair – possibly Ali Al Maqseed and Talal Al Amer - although during the three group matches at the Gulf Cup the central midfield pairing changed just as many times.
Confusion also surrounds the one area in which the team's greatest strength lies, the front third.
Key weapon Fahad Al Enezi was omitted from the squad in controversial circumstances, reportedly as he doesn't have a Kuwaiti passport due to issues relating to the fact that he is part of the nation's Bedouin minority.
With veteran winger Waleed Ali injured and also not in the squad it is possible that the versatile Bader Al Mutawa could be nominally shifted to a role on the left of the midfield three, allowing Aziz Mashaan to take up the central playmaking role with Yousef Nasser operating as the lone front man.
Kuwait has a positive record against Australia since the Socceroos' move into Asia, with two wins and a draw from the four matches played but Al Azraq are unlikely to trouble the host nation too much come the opening match of the tournament.
The side is looking for a first quarter final appearance since 2000 but amid turmoil and an understrength squad it's unlikely to come here.
PREDICTION: GROUP STAGE
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUP: 4-2-3-1
FULL SQUAD:
GOALKEEPERS: 1.Khaled AL RASHIDI (Al Salmiya); 22. Nawaf AL KHALDI (Al Qadsia); 23. Hameed YOUSSSEF (Al Arabi)
DEFENDERS: 2. Amer AL FADHEL (Al Qadsia); 3. Fahad SHAHEEN (Kuwait SC); 4. Hussain FADHEL (Al Wahda/UAE); 5. Fahad AL HAJERI (Al Salmiya); 7. Talal EL FADHEL (Kazma); 13. Musaed AL ENEZI (Al Oruba/KSA); 18. Khaled EL IBRAHIM (Al Qadsia)
MIDFIELDERS: 6. Khaled AL QAHTANI (Al Qadsia); 8. Saleh AL SHEIKH (Al Qadsia); 9. Abdullah AL BURAIKI (Kuwait SC); 10. Abdulaziz MASHAAN (Al Qadsia); 11. Fahad AL ANSARI (Al Qadsia); 12. Sultan AL ENEZI (Al Qadsia); 14. Talal AL AMER (Al Qadsiya); 15. Faisal AL ENEZI (Al Salmiya); 16. Faisal ZAID (Jahra); 21. Ali AL MAQSEED (Al Arabi)
FORWARDS: 17. Bader AL MUTAWA (Al Qadsia); 19. Abdulrahman AL SHAMMARI (Al Nasr); 20. Yousef NASSER (Kazma)
GROUP A FIXTURES:
Friday 9 January 2015
Australia v Kuwait, Melbourne
Tuesday 13 January 2015
Kuwait v Korea Republic, Canberra
Kuwait v Korea Republic, Canberra
Saturday 17 January 2015
Oman v Kuwait, Newcastle
