Al-Abyad loses to English Portsmouth

Kuwait’s first team suffered a 2-0 defeat to English Championship side Portsmouth in their second friendly match during their training camp in the British capital, London. The “White” team is scheduled to face English League Two side Barnet next Sunday, and will conclude their camp on August 15 with a fourth match.

The first half ended goalless against Portsmouth. Portuguese manager Alexandre Santos reverted to the approach he used in the team’s opening friendly, a 1-0 loss to Milton Keynes Dons, by fielding two different lineups. He started the match with Saud Al-Houshan in goal, and in front of him: captain Sami Al-Ajmi, Hassan Hamdan, Mehdi Berrahma, Ali Hussein, Reda Hani, Carleneus Vinicius, Ibrahim Kamel, Maramah Marmoush, Amr Abdel Fattah (“Amory”), and Youssef Nasser. For the second half, he switched to a different squad featuring Khalid Al-Rashidi in goal, along with Mohsen Falah, Arsene Zola, Mohammed Faraih, Abdullah Al-Qarazi, Ahmed Al-Dhafiri, Hamad Al-Sanousi, Faisal Zayed, Mohammed Daham, and Mubarak Al-Mohammadi. Moroccan midfielder Mehdi Berrahma played in both halves.

The match was evenly contested in both halves, with the Portuguese manager keen on testing all players who were physically and technically ready.