Kuwait lost to Portsmouth
The Kuwait national team suffered a 2-0 defeat against Portsmouth, a club competing in the English Championship, in a friendly match on Wednesday as part of their training camp in the British capital, London, in preparation for the new season.
This was the second match for “The Whites” in the camp, which runs until August 16, following a 1-0 loss in their first game against Milton Keynes Dons, a club owned by Kuwaiti investors.
“The Whites” are scheduled to play at least one more match in London, where they will face Barnet from the second tier on August 9. Meanwhile, the delegation’s management has left the door open for a fourth match, with the opponent and date to be determined later based on a decision by Portuguese head coach Alexandre Santos.
Following the pattern of the first match, Coach Santos fielded two different lineups in each half. He started with goalkeeper Saud Al-Houshan; defenders Sami Al-Sane, Hassan Hamdan, Moroccan Mehdi Barhuma, and Ali Hussein; midfielders Rida Hani, Brazilian Carlos Vinicius, Amr Abdel Fattah, Ibrahim Kamel, and Bahraini Mohammed Marhoon; and forward Youssef Nasser.
Meanwhile, the Arab Club’s football delegation is departing Turkey tomorrow, Thursday, en route to the Indian city of Kolkata to prepare for their match against hosts East Bengal on August 12 in the playoff round for the 2024 AFC Champions League Two group stage.
“The Greens” concluded a 20-day preparatory camp in the Turkish city of Erzurum, during which they played four trial matches. They began against Turkish teams, losing 3-1 to Erzurumspor and drawing 1-1 with Vanspor, before defeating Amidspor’s reserve side 4-0. In their final match, they faced Egypt’s Pyramids FC yesterday, Tuesday, losing 3-1 in a useful test given the strength of the opponent, whose lineup included players who featured with the Egyptian national team in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, such as Mehdi Lashin and Mustafa Ziko, who played in the second half and scored the third goal.
Also in Turkey, Kazma and Salmiya teams will play two friendly matches tomorrow, Thursday, facing Saudi Al-Raed and Qatari Al-Markhiya, respectively, as part of their training camps in the city of Izmit.
Both teams are playing their second matches in the camp. While “The Oranges” (Kazma) drew 2-2 with Qatari Al-Wakrah last Thursday, “The Sky Blues” (Salmiya) lost 3-0 to Egyptian Zamalek on Sunday.
Salmiya has two more matches besides tomorrow’s fixture, including a game against Algerian Olympique de Médéa on August 10, while the opponent for their fourth match, scheduled for the 14th, has not yet been determined.
In the Egyptian capital, Cairo, the Al-Shabab football team will begin their trial matches in their camp when they face third-division club Al-Awara tomorrow evening.
