Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic said Saudi Arabia fully deserved to win the Gulf Cup 27 after defeating the United Arab Emirates 2-0 in Tuesday’s final at Alinma Stadium in Jeddah.
The result gave Saudi Arabia their first Gulf Cup title in 23 years. Their previous triumph came in the 2003 edition of the Arab Gulf Cup, while the United Arab Emirates missed out on the chance to reclaim a trophy they last won in 2013.
Dalic congratulated the hosts during his post-match news conference, in comments reported by the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat.
“I congratulate Saudi Arabia. They deserved to win the title,” he said. “We faced a very strong team that did not make mistakes, and they deserved to win the final.”
The UAE manager said the atmosphere inside the stadium had placed additional pressure on his side, whose individual errors allowed Saudi Arabia to take control of the match.
“Playing in front of the Saudi fans created a lot of pressure for us,” Dalic said. “We made mistakes at the beginning of the match that should not happen in games like this. Individual errors were the main reason for our defeat today.”
Saudi Arabia scored twice early in the final, leaving the UAE with a difficult task. The visitors were also presented with an opportunity to respond from the penalty spot but were unable to take advantage.
“We conceded two early goals and had a chance to score from a penalty,” Dalic said. “After the first 20 minutes, we did not return to the match in the way we needed to. We should have performed better and applied more pressure.”
Despite the defeat, Dalic said he was satisfied overall with the UAE’s campaign and believed the team could use the tournament to improve ahead of its next commitments.
“We had a good tournament, and in general I am satisfied with what we produced,” he said. “Apart from today’s match, we will learn from this tournament, build on the positives and address the negatives.”
The Croatian added that the experience would form part of wider efforts to develop the UAE national team.
“We will work to develop UAE football and prepare for the upcoming challenges,” he said.
