The 23rd Gulf Cup gets underway on Friday when Saudi Arabia face hosts Kuwait in the opening game. Here Arab News takes a look at the runners and riders and puts its neck on the line by trying to predict the outcome.

GROUP A
 
UAE

With Saudi Arabia sending a shadow squad to the Gulf Cup, the UAE will be firm favorites to win Group A. The Emirates may have had an erratic World Cup qualifying campaign but there were glimpses of what they can do when they overcame the Green Falcons 2-1 in Al-Ain, though then-coach Edgardo Bauza has since moved on. New coach Alberto Zaccheroni will be hoping to get off to a flyer in Kuwait, where a third Gulf Cup title for the UAE will set them up nicely for a year of preparation for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup being held on home soil. With a firing Omar Abdulrahman and Ali Mabkhout, the UAE will take some stopping.

KEY PLAYER: Omar Abdulrahman.
PREDICTION: Champions
 
KUWAIT

Having had a FIFA ban lifted recently, Kuwait will be hoping to announce themselves as regional force again after several years of being an international football pariah. A passionate, vociferous home crowd should go a long way to lifting the team in the tournament’s opener against a weakened Saudi Arabia, arguably Kuwait’s most important group match. A decent result, and the subsequent confidence surge to team and fans, should set them up to progress to the knockout stages.

KEY PLAYER: Fahad Al Enezi
PREDICTION: Semi-finals
 
SAUDI ARABIA
With the World Cup looming, the Green Falcons have taken the not unreasonable decision to send a B squad to the Gulf Cup, overseen by Krunoslav Juric rather than recently appointed senior coach Juan Antonio Pizzi. Just how good the back ups are remains to be seen, but there will be fringe players who will be playing for a place on the plane to Russia next summer should senior players lose form or get injured. Much will depend on their match against what will be a fired-up Kuwait. The winner will likely join the UAE in the semifinals.

KEY PLAYER: Mohamed Kanno
PREDICTION: Group exit
 
 OMAN

Dutchman Pim Verbeek, who took over as coach last year, will be hoping to restore Oman’s standing in region to the levels enjoyed in 2012, when Paul Le Guen briefly had the nation dreaming of World Cup qualification. Oman have already qualified the 2019 AFC Asian Cup in the UAE, but will not be expected to make too much of an impression in Kuwait. It could well be the last Gulf Cup for captain and talisman Ali Al-Habsi, arguably Oman’s greatest player.

KEY PLAYER: Ali Al-Habsi
PREDICTION: Group exit
 
GROUP B
 
IRAQ

One of the region’s most over-achieving teams will once again have a talented squad to choose from at the Gulf Cup. Another team to have a poor World Cup qualifying campaign — albeit in an incredibly tough group that included Japan, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Australia — Iraq, with players such as Udinese’s Ali Adnan and Al-Dhafra’s  Mohannad Abdul-Raheem, should comfortably progress from the group. After that, do not bet against them reaching the final as they did in 2013.
KEY PLAYER: Ali Adnan
PREDICTION: Finalists
 
QATAR

The 2022 World Cup hosts had a dismal qualifying campaign for Russia 2018, losing seven and winning only two of their 10 matches along the way to finishing bottom of their group in the Third Round. Still, having replaced coach Jorge Fossati with the Spaniard Felix Sanchez Bas, they should possess enough quality to progress to the knock out stages in Kuwait. Kicking off against Yemen should ensure three early points on the board before the second, and toughest, group match against Iraq.

KEY PLAYER: Hassan Al-Haidos
PREDICTION: Semi-finals
 
BAHRAIN
 
Under Czech coach Miroslav Soukup, Bahrain have confirmed qualification to the Asian Cup next year, and like many teams in Kuwait will be using the Gulf Cup as a starting point toward UAE 2019. The team has not progressed beyond the group stage in their last two tournaments, the 2014 Gulf Cup of Nations in Saudi and the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in 2015. Don’t expect that to change here.

KEY PLAYER: Ismail Abdul-Latif
PREDICTION: Group exit
 
YEMEN

The weakest of the eight teams taking part, Yemen would do well to get any points out of their group matches, and causing an upset is likely the limit of their ambitions. At 121 in the FIFA rankings, Yemen, however, could be forgiven for having their footballing focus elsewhere. Should they, as expected, beat Nepal on March 27, they will qualify to their first ever international tournament, the 2019 AFC Asian Cup in the UAE. The Gulf Cup will be a good gauge of their current standard.

KEY PLAYER: Ala Al-Sasi
PREDICTION: Group exit