Saudi Arabia’s perfect Gulf Cup record offers hope before Qatar semi-final

Saudi Arabia will take a significant piece of Gulf Cup history into their semi-final against Qatar, having won all three of their group matches in the 27th edition of the Arabian Gulf Cup, Gulf Cup 27.

The two sides will meet on Saturday at Alinma Stadium in Jeddah, with Saudi Arabia seeking to continue a record that has proved decisive for every team to achieve a perfect group-stage campaign since the competition adopted a two-group format in 2004.

Saudi Arabia secured maximum points by beating Kuwait, Oman and Iraq, collecting nine points from three victories. According to Saudi newspaper Al Riyadiyah, they are only the fourth team to finish the group stage with a 100% record since the format was introduced.

Each of the previous three teams to reach nine points went on to win their semi-final.

Oman were the first to do so in 2007. They progressed to the final, where they lost 1-0 to the United Arab Emirates.

The pattern was repeated at the 2013 tournament, when both the United Arab Emirates and Iraq completed the group stage with nine points. They advanced through their respective semi-finals before meeting in the final, which the United Arab Emirates won 2-1 against Iraq.

Saudi Arabia will now hope their own unbeaten group campaign leads them to a similar outcome against Qatar. Victory would take them into the final and keep alive their hopes of ending a long wait for silverware.

The Saudi national team have not appeared on a tournament winners’ podium for 23 years. Their most recent success came in 2003, when they won the Arabian Gulf Cup.

Their semi-final against Qatar therefore represents more than a chance to reach the final. The side are also attempting to revive a record that has been dormant since their last Gulf Cup triumph, while history gives them encouragement after previous perfect group-stage campaigns all resulted in semi-final victories.