Asian Cup 2019: Surprise with Yemen's lineup against Vietnam
Recently, the Asian Football Confederation announced the squad of 24 teams participating in the 2019 Asian Cup. In particular, the registration list of Yemen, Vietnam's opponent in the group stage, surprised many people.
Specifically, in the squad that Yemen coach Jan Kocian sent to AFC, 9 out of 23 names were registered as strikers. Accordingly, the Yemeni players registered as strikers include Ahmed Al-Sarori, Ahmed Nabil Dhabaan, Abdulwasea Al-Matari, Mohammed Al Huthaifi, Ali Hafeedh, Salem Al-Omzae, Ahmed Abdullah Alos, Emad Mansoor Tawfik and Mohammed Ba Rowis.
Meanwhile, in midfield, where teams register the most players, the Slovakian coach only registered four names including Ahmed Saeed Abdulrab, Wahid Mohammed Al-Khyat, Ala Mohammed Al Sasi, Hussein Ahmed Al-Ghazi.
However, this could be one of the tricks to hide the Yemen national team's coaching staff. Because among the nine names registered as strikers, three names, including Abdulwasea Al-Matari, Ahmed Abdullah Alos and Mohammed Ba Rowis, often play as midfielders.
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| Yemen's registration list was posted by AFC on Twitter. |
As a newcomer to the Asian Cup, Yemen is considered an interesting unknown in Group D, which also includes Vietnam, Iran and Iraq. They have not played a match since the qualifying campaign ended in March. Until the international friendlies in November, they had two friendly matches against Saudi Arabia and UAE but both were defeated.
