Amid ongoing conflict in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia will host soccer's eight-country Arabian Gulf Cup starting Wednesday, under pressure to bounce back from a disappointing World Cup.
Yemen is the only one of the eight teams never to have won the trophy in 26 previous tournaments and opens against the United Arab Emirates in Jeddah on Thursday, just days after Yemen’s Houthi rebels announced that they had targeted the Saudi capital with missiles.
It was the first attack on Riyadh since an escalation in fighting with the Tehran-backed rebels opened a new front in the Iran war.
