Doha, January 13 (QNA) – Ali Al-Nono, the historical top scorer of the Yemeni national team, confirmed that his country’s early exit from the Arabian Gulf Cup competitions “Gulf 25” is a natural matter in view of the current reality surrounding Yemeni football, and the short preparation period that was not at the level of ambition.
He added in an exclusive interview with Qatar News Agency (QNA) that his country’s exit from the competition was natural in light of the instability that dominates the reality of Yemeni football, expressing his dissatisfaction with the current situation.
He stressed that the Yemeni Football Association bears a large part of the responsibility as a result of the lack of a clear vision for the future of Yemeni football.
Al-Nono, who started his career with Al-Ahli Club Sanaa in 1995, and played with the club until 1998, said: “We are in dire need of someone to extract Yemeni sports in general and football in particular from the situation we have reached. There is absolutely no comparison between the preparation process between all the teams participating in this tournament and the late preparation of our national team, which was limited to running a single camp in the Egyptian capital, and we wished that the team have appeared better than the previous editions.”
The top goalscorer of the Yemeni team, who scored 40 goals during his career, expressed his happiness at the return of the Arab Gulf Cup to Iraq after an absence of about 44 years, wishing success to all Iraqis in organizing an exceptional tournament.
Concluding his statements to (QNA), Al-Nono pointed out that the competition for the “Gulf 25” title is open, expressing his belief that the Iraqi team has great chances in view of the public support it enjoys, in addition to the fact that the struggle in the second group is still open. He added that all possibilities are available to qualify for the semi-finals, and the important thing is to watch exciting and strong matches at the technical level befitting the Gulf football. (QNA)