KUWAIT CITY, June 24: The Kuwait under-19 youth football team begins its journey in the West Asian Championship in Taif, Saudi Arabia, facing Oman at 5:00 pm in the first group stage. Host Saudi Arabia and Yemen Group A lineup.

In a press conference, Croatian Blue coach Dario Pesic expressed his well-wishes for all teams participating in the tournament, highlighting the value of the experience for his team. Pesic emphasized that this championship marks an important step towards its goals, as it prepares for the Asian Cup qualifiers. He noted that these young players are being groomed to eventually represent the senior national team.

Pesic underscored the importance of the match against Oman, viewing it as a crucial opportunity for the team to perform well and gain valuable experience. Last week, Al-Azraq held a training camp in Egypt, where it played a friendly match against the Egyptian youth team, which ended in a 0-4 loss.

The Croatian coach called up 28 players for the tournament, including Youssef Sabah, Ahmed Khurshid, Jassim Shamouh, Abdullah Al-Ayoub, Abdullah Fares, Miqdad Safar, Abdul-Wahab Jassim, Youssef Majed, Hussein Al-Kankouni, Talal Al-Matroud, Abdul-Wahab Al-Shalal, Jassim Matar, Abdul-Aziz Abdeen, Fadel Al-Sarraf, Ahmed Boodai, Mohammed Al-Omran, Turki Al-Yousef, Omar Al-Azmi, Montaser Suleiman, Bandar Qannas, Eid Talal, Thamer Al-Sulaili, Khaled Al-Kharqawi, Abdullah Al-Sarraf, Muhammad Arhama, Muhammad Al-Surai’i, Saud Al-Kandari, and Jassim Al-Anazi.

The youth team is following a long-term preparatory program. After the West Asian Championship, it will return to Kuwait for local training before heading to Serbia on July 17 for an external camp lasting until August 6. This camp will help it prepare for the Asian Cup qualifiers, which Kuwait will host in September. It will compete in Group C against South Korea, the UAE, Lebanon, and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Following the Serbia camp, the team will participate in a four-team friendly tournament in Azerbaijan over two weeks before returning to Kuwait to play two trial matches before starting the Asian Cup qualifiers.

Hassan Musa

Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff