Kuwait National team
 

There was a time in history when the name of Kuwait National team sent chills through opposing teams spines. There was a time in history when winning the Asian and Gulf Cups were not dreams, nor goals, but an inevitability. There was a time in history when we had the best players not only in the gulf, nor the arabian peninsula, but in Asia. The keyword here is “History”.

Nowadays, we are lucky if we even qualify for the Asian cup or even win the Gulf up.

So what has changed? Why are we unable to match Bahrain or even struggle to beat Yemen?!

Why have we become the laughing stock of the Gulf? It is sad really that that a couple of months back we did not even have a football team!!

 (Remember when FIFA suspended our beloved Football Association? As a result our football team was not able to compete in International Football).

In this article, I will discuss the catalysts that lead to the demise of Kuwait football, possible solutions and other related issues.

First of all, before talking about the factors that lead to the demise of our national team I would like to compare our current status in the football world to our status 10 years ago; I say 10 years because it is unfair, no. it is an insult to compare the current crop of players to the generation of players like  Jassem Yaqoub and Faisal Al-Dakhil.

In 1998, not only were we the 2nd highest ranked team in Asia, but we were also 24th in the World (a record high for Kuwait). In 2008, we are ranked 17th in Asia behind all of our Gulf friends, with the exception of Yemen of course ..we never liked them.

While we are ranked 17th in Asia, behind the likes of Vietnam and Thailand, we are ranked 121st in the World!!! (our worst ranking in history).

So why the drastic change? In MY OPINION, the real reason is not the Football Association, although they do sure a lot of the blame but we will get back to that later, the real reason is the current crop of players whom are in all honesty not good enough to play for the national team.

Actually, not only are they not good enough to play for the national team, they are not worthy of playing for the national team! Players of the past risked every limb, and sweat blood when they wore that blue jersey. I am sure many of you have seen the infamous photos that circulated around the national media showing several first team players AND officials sharing a “sheesha” in a training camp in Egypt...or the photos of a certain first team starter whom was seen with his “friend” in a chalet when he was actually supposed to be abroad with his team members attending a training camp. So why is it that the national team has to choose from such a shallow pool of players? Where are the modern Abdullah Wabran's and Bader Haji's gone? Why would not anyone want to play for his country? If this was a Q & A i would have told you the answers by now, but it is not...it is an article so you will have to wait for the answers.

Fundementally, or as the French would say au fond, the Football Association are to blame for the under-performing “stars”of Kuwait. They have allowed the standard of Kuwait football to become so low because they allowed it to. For the love of GOD our league is not even recognized by FIFA!! (remember last year when Al-Arabi FC did not want to play a relegation decider with Al-Tadamon? FIFA was asked to intervene, but it did not want to!).

The FA with their constant disapproval of new theories, hard headedness (if that is even a word), and by having a revolving door for the managers office they have buried their own grave. Furthermore, they have made the manager the scape-goat for their supposed mishaps. How many First team coaches has the FA hired, and eventually fired, in the past 10 years? Please tell me as the internet and I have lost count!

How do you expect a team to perform when the environment around the team is unstable?

You cannot, as simple as that. Now that I have spread the blames without the mention of names, which is a first, it is time to look at possible solutions.

If I had any influence on the heads of the FA, I would place great emphasis on the production of raw talent through the construction of youth academies and by the support of foreign aid. By foreign aid I am referencing the likes of the International Football Academy which has camps all around the world including our beloved neighbors Bahrain. Now tell me, how can a nation which only has “Duwarain w Masjid” hold such camps and we do not? You do not have to go far to find another example of such commitment to the cause. Take Qatar and the uae for example. Qatar has ASPIRE, which not only excels in football, but in almost every sport. Furthermore, ASPIRE holds an annual competition for their football youth teams in which they invite European giants like Barcelona, Arsenal and Ajax (whom all are famous for producing great talent) to take part and challenge their youth. 2 years ago I was watching (yes, they do have their own TV channel) ASPIRE youth take on , if my memory serves me right, Arsenal youth in the final and they actually beat Arsenal via penalties to clinch the tournament trophy!!

uae have a similar academy in the form of Manchester united youth camp (not to mention the up and coming Shaikh Zayed Sports City).

I am not saying we should call Liverpool or Real Madrid youth to take on al-Sahel or al-Shabab youth (although it would be interesting to see whether the goalkeeper can concede less than 30 goals a game) all I am saying is we should provide our youth with better support whether it is physical (to keep them fit) or mentally (to help them mature).

Moreover, the truth is even if we do have phenomenal youth talent what guarantee is there that they will choose to play professional football? None, because professional football does not exist in Kuwait. Why is it that a player has to get permission from his professor or boss to go and train abroad with his team? Again, take the uae as an example. Most of the teams in their league have adopted professionalism, so has the Egyptian League. Professionalism not only attracts top players, not only does it compose commitment in a player, more importantly, it breeds players for the future. Checkout Al-Wihda football club of uae, they have reached the quarter-finals of the Asian champions league for 2 years in a row now and have been challenging on the domestic front for years now. If you look closely at their team you will realize that it is ingested with youth (the average age of the squad is 22).

The Egyptian league is another example of producing raw talent. While the Kuwaiti FA is struggling to produce great players, the Egyptian FA is struggling to keep its great players from being raided by European teams.

For those of you too lazy to read the whole article (and i dont blame you if you dont)...and if I am to summarize the problems and solution in two words, they would be “youth” and “professionalism”.

In the end, I would just like to add that although there are more things to worry about right now such as the world economic recession, the image of Islam in the western world or even the upcoming clashes between Liverpool and Arsenal, I just wanted to talk about Kuwait's football as it is an issue that really bothers me; plus, I knew if I wrote about globalization or the world economy or something none of you would have read my article =)

Disclaimer: The criticism above is not intended for all the players, just most of them.