On those lost points- ( AZRAQ vs AZKALS)

As I watched the Kuwait Men’s Football National Team put the finishing touches on a clinical display of top-notch football – a 3-nil win over the Philippines in Kuwait -- I felt bad for a couple of things.

One, for the team, that had worked so hard and is sometimes dealt terrible hands. They carry the burden of expectation not just of themselves but now a nation starved for glory.

Two, for our country that with every game, every win and every draw, hopes to stake its claim as an heir to the world game. Denied in basketball, maybe in the world game, we can be someone.

And three, it’s a sobering lesson that we have a long ways to go.

If the home matches against Mongolia and Sri Lanka taught us anything, it was the advantage of a home field game.

If there was anything that the sobering loss to Kuwait taught us is that we need more experience. And that is something not learned in the span of a week of training camp in Germany or Bahrain. There are no short cuts in sports (one that the Miami Heat can relate to). One must the highest of highs and the lowest of lows before one can build a winner.

For one scintillating half, the Philippine Men’s Football National Team showed the Kuwaitis and whoever was watching that we could be right there with the best of them. We nearly blindsided them on a couple of counter-attacks and repeatedly took possession of the ball. We forced them to be a little more defensive and cautious.

Who knows had a strike, even one strike, found the back of the net early on? That could have changed the complexion of the game.

I got to speak to midfielder Fahed Ebrahim who scored the third goal for Kuwait as they were waiting for their flight to Manila (via Kuwait Airlines) and this is what he had to say, “The Philippines made us think about our strategy and what we were doing wrong.”

Added playmaker Fahed Al Elenezi, “They made us work for our points.”

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