Repeated mistakes are the team’s only problem… and Kwame and Kuzmin bear responsibility

Athletes and technical analysts confirmed that the performance of the national football team was not bad despite its loss, the day before yesterday, to its Jordanian counterpart 1-2, in the opening of its matches in the 2025 Arab Cup in Doha.

They told “Emirates Today”: “Although the team completed the match minus 10 players, after Khaled Al-Dhanhani was sent off at the beginning of the first half, it seemed organized, as the red card changed the course of the match and confused the team’s calculations,” noting that “the only problem was the individual defensive errors, specifically from the defender, Kwame Koidu, for which the team paid dearly, as they continued to be repeated without any treatment by the Romanian coach Olario Cosmin.”

They stressed the team’s ability to compensate during its next two matches against the Egyptian and Kuwaiti teams, but on the condition that mistakes are corrected, while others held Kuzmin responsible for the loss in the opening match due to what they described as a lack of good technical reading of the events of the match, especially after the expulsion and the numerical shortage in the ranks of the Whites.

They continued: “The team suffers from many things, including technical instability and frequent changes of coaches, in addition to the lack of quality of some of the players who are selected, which greatly harmed the team and caused its decline.”

The Jordanian team topped the third group standings with three points, followed by Kuwait and Egypt with one point each, then Al-Abyad in last place with no score.

Many problems

For his part, former international player and technical analyst, Bakhit Saad, stressed that “there are many issues and problems that the national team has continued to suffer from and that need radical treatment, including poor selection of coaches, instability, and many changes at the level of the technical staff in recent years. In addition, during the recent period, the quality of some of the players who are selected for the national team was not of the required quality and do not serve the national team much.”

He said, “There are those who demand the dismissal of Kuzmin, but this is not a solution. Rather, matters must be dealt with rationally, away from emotion,” considering that “even if the coach is changed, the situation will not improve unless many matters are reconsidered and solutions are found. Things in the national team need a comprehensive evaluation process.”

Individual errors

In turn, the national football coach and technical analyst, Rashid Amer, said: “The team started the match against Jordan in an excellent manner,” considering that “regardless of the loss, there was a desire among the players to win, in addition to the fact that the team was organized and also excellent in the offensive transformation process, but the problem was in the presence of some individual mistakes in the back line, not tactical ones.”

He stressed that the team did not deserve to lose, compared to the technical level it showed against the Jordanian team, which is considered the first Arab team to qualify for the World Cup, and is also the Asian runner-up in the last edition.

He stressed the team’s ability to compensate in its next two matches against Egypt and Kuwait and compete with any team in the tournament, but on the condition of avoiding individual mistakes in the back line, noting that the team’s defender Kwame Koaido is still making the same previous mistakes.

Rashid Amer added: “Despite the loss to Jordan, the team was not bad. On the contrary, the form in which it appeared qualifies it to reach advanced stages in the Arab Cup.”

Rashid Amer confirmed that the team, although it completed the match minus ten players, showed that it has striking attacking power and is capable of scoring at any moment.

He expressed his happiness with the presence of young goalkeeper Hamad Al-Muqbali as the starting goalkeeper, replacing the injured goalkeeper Khaled Issa, considering that despite his young age, he is a capable goalkeeper and seemed confident of himself.

Cosmin’s responsibility

Former World Cup player and technical analyst, Ali Thani, said that expelling Khaled Al-Dhanhani in the first half is not an excuse for what happened to the national team, because expulsion is considered part of the game.

He stressed that “the potential of the team makes it superior to any team,” stressing that “any competitor after expulsion has a state of lethargy in the game,” considering that “there are many examples of this, as evidenced by the fact that during Chelsea’s last match against Arsenal in the English Premier League, Chelsea, although it completed the match minus ten players after the expulsion of its player Moses Caicedo (38), nevertheless forced Arsenal to a 1-1 draw.”

Ali Thani held coach Cosmin responsible for what happened, due to his inability to read the match’s events well, pointing out that the team has lacked in the past period the technical outlook and its identity as a team despite the great potential it has.