Golf Cup, Group Stage, Matchday 2, 24.12.2024 at 18:30
No top soccer on Christmas Eve? Unthinkable for some! Good thing we don’t even have to face this situation, because those who don’t want to miss out on the round leather on 24 December can simply devote themselves to the 2024/25 Golf Cup.
The tournament has only just begun, with the second matchday of the group stage scheduled for Tuesday. In my UAE Kuwait betting tip, I’ll tell you why I’m not exactly betting on a spectacle and therefore have my eye on the “Under 2.5 goals” bet.
The year 2024 began with the Asian Cup – the year 2024 ends with the Golf Cup! There’s plenty on offer in the Arab region, with the current tournament having kicked off just a few days ago.
Kuwait, the record champion, naturally has special ambitions. The nation has already won the title ten times, but it has been 14 and almost 15 years since they last triumphed:
2013/14 saw them take bronze, and since then Kuwait have been waiting to go all the way again. They are not among the top favorites, but perhaps their history will help them to surprise.
The tournament began with a 1-1 draw against Oman, a result that did not really give any indication of where they were heading. It was a very tough game, with Kuwait scoring three times and Oman once.
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So there is still plenty of room for improvement in terms of play. Well, the whole of 2024 didn’t exactly go as Kuwait had imagined. The most recent test match before the Golf Cup resulted in a 1-1 draw against Yemen, before which the team was on the road in the Asian World Cup qualifiers.
They played ten times, winning just once, 1-0 against Afghanistan. With five draws and four defeats, their record is still room for improvement and shows that Kuwait are not one of the best nations in Asia.
At least they lost 4-0 to Oman in the qualifiers in October, but they put up a much better fight against this opponent a few days ago to kick off the Gulf Cup.
Kuwait have played 14 international matches this year, and their offense has been anything but brilliant, scoring ten goals. It would therefore be a minor sensation if Kuwait were to really come up trumps on Tuesday.
You can therefore bet that the team will not score against the United Arab Emirates – at Betano the bet “Both teams score – No” is a good 1.70.
Incidentally, the two nations have already faced each other 19 times, but there have been no real thrillers in recent years. 0:1, 1:0, 0:0, the games that have taken place since 2014 have been anything but spectacular.
So how do our betting providers without tax assess the situation? They see UAE ahead, with average odds of 1.80 to 4.65. The United Arab Emirates must actually play for victory on the second matchday.
After all, they couldn’t manage more than a draw in the opener, with the match against Qatar ending in a 1-1 draw. The result was very fortunate – and definitely for the Qataris!
They managed just one shot on goal, which fittingly came from an own goal. The UAE were clearly superior, but were unable to capitalize on nine corners and twelve shots.
The last time they failed to reach the group stage of the Golf Cup was twice in a row, before which they had won three medals in a row (the entire set was collected). A co-favorite for 2024/25 then?
Not necessarily, because at the Asian Cup at the start of the year, they had only one win against Hong Kong, Palestine, Iran and Tajikistan and consequently also exited in the round of 16.
The World Cup qualifying campaign is at least going a little better, with six of the ten matches ending in victory. With six goals conceded, the defense is quite respectable; the only time they have conceded more than one goal this year was in a 2-1 draw against Iran (preliminary round of the Asian Cup).
The Gulf Cup started with a 1-1 draw on both sides! Both the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait still don’t really know how the competition will continue for them.
Kuwait is probably the worse team in terms of quality, especially in the offensive area I could find few facts that would prove that you can expect many chances or even goals on Tuesday.
However, as the UAE are under a certain amount of pressure not to finish the second group game without a three-goal lead, I believe in a tactical game and therefore opt for the following bet:
The 2.5 goals will not be scored!