Kuwait.

Team Melli played a goal-less draw against Saudi Arabia in the first match of the WAFF 2012 championship played in Friendship & Peace stadium in Kuwait.

In a dull first half devoid of any serious scoring opportunities, the two teams both fielding a large number of fringe players, The Saudis were more in control but with little effect while Team Melli was content with defending and counter attacking in the rare occasions.

The second half was quite different as Team Melli took the initiative and was clearly going for a win and three points. Majority of the attacks were from the left flank where the combination of Pooladi and Ouladi created several chances.

Ouladi , clearly the most effective attacker , created several opportunities including a powerful header that just cleared the post. With several changes in the line up including the introduction of Hassanzadeh , the coaching team of Omid Namazi & Markar Aghajanian were trying to vitalize the offensive force taking advantage of the Saudi’s retreat , but to no avail.

The goal-less draw and the sharing of  points between the two powerful team , gives advantage to Bahrain which is taking part in this competition with the full A team squad , playing later on against Yemen.