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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
John Duerden

Yemen and football in the face of civil war: ‘It would be very nice to give the world a different headline’

Yemen Football Palestine Saudi Arabia
Yemen fans make a heart with their fingers as they cheer on their side before the Gulf Cup match against the UAE
Yemen have not played a home game since 2012, but football remains ‘a religion’ to the Yemeni people. Photograph: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters

The Yemen national coach, Noureddine Ould Ali, chose not to reach for a good old-fashioned football excuse after his team’s 1-0 loss to Qatar in the Gulf Cup on Saturday, despite a clear penalty not given their way. The defeat meant the Reds crashed out of the eight-team regional tournament, taking place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with a game of the group stage remaining.

There are other factors the Algerian could list for a defeat against a team that was at the World Cup. Qatar have the Aspire Academy, state of the art stadiums and a former Spain and Real Madrid coach – Julen Lopetegui – in charge. Yemen have nothing approaching that and have not played a home game since 2012, a 2-1 win over Palestine in Sanaa.

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