Kuwait's Youth Team Faces Japan Today

Mubarak Al-Khalidi: Our national under-20 youth football team began its journey in the Asian Cup qualifiers today with a match against Japan. The finals will be held in China from March 24 to April 10, 2027, with the top eight teams from each qualifying group and the next seven best runners-up across the continent advancing to the finals.

Our team kicks off its campaign with a tough fixture against Japan in Group 7 of the qualifiers, which are being held in a centralized format in Cambodia. The Blue Team also shares its group with Yemen and Cambodia.

The Blue Team hopes to start with an ideal result and secure a positive outcome in their opening match. They have prepared well over the past two months, with training camps held in the Netherlands during the summer, followed by sessions in Kuwait, and most recently a camp in Bangkok, where they played friendly matches against strong sides. They suffered two defeats to Jordan and one 1-0 loss to Iraq, but secured a 1-0 victory over the United Arab Emirates.

The technical staff, led by Croatian coach Virdo Milin, is expected to adopt a cautious approach in today’s match, avoiding possession loss against a strong, fast, and skillful Japanese side, and focusing heavily on minimizing errors.

For his part, Blue Team coach Virdo Milin said, “Our team has been drawn into a group that is not easy for any side, so we will strive hard to achieve the best possible positive results.” He added that the Blue Team is aiming to qualify for the Asian Cup finals after a long absence.