Jakarta Casual

My first game in the Kuwait Premier League was a top of the table clash with third hosting second. Al Qadsia came into the game on the back of a 5-0 thrashing of struggling Al Sahel midweek while Al Kuwait had gone through the season unbeaten.

Victory for the home side could well have thrown a spanner in the works of Al Kuwait's own tite aspirations; the visiting side went into the game two points off leaders Al Arabi with a superior goal difference.

The Mohammed Al Hamad Stadium in Hallawy holds some 22,000 but for this crunch fixture there was perhaps 5,000 including a vociferous away following resplendent with drums and a geezer with a megaphone who led the chanting and drowned everyone else out in the process.

Tickets cost 5 Kuwait Dinar, about Rp 200,000 or 10 GBP for the main stand and 3 KD elsewhere.

Al Kuwait go close in the second half

With a 9.10 pm kick off catering I guess to TV companies, the game took a while to even kick off. There was plenty of huddles and smiling for the cameras while some lad wearing a yellow Al Qadsia shirt with the number 32 was being give a bit of a send off with flowers, hugs and photos aplenty while adulating in the applause and appreciation of both sets of supporters. No idea who he was mind.

It was Al Kuwait who started the livelier with their forwards and midfield pressing from the get go, not allowing the home time to dwell on the ball but chances were few and far between and there was no surprise the teams went in 0-0 at half time.

Second half was more of the same with Al Kuwait increasingly dominating, finally scoring the all important goal to earn the three points that saw them overtake Al Arabi at the top of the table.

As far as the standard of the game goes it was a little disappointing. Plenty of frenzied running but poor decision making when it came to the final pass. There were some moments of skill but not too many. No players really stood out although of course I knew of none to look out for before hand!

It was however interesting to see two of the teams who have dominated the AFC Cup in recent years in action at last; Kuwait has been a graveyard for Indonesians sides in recent years with Persipura losing 3-2 to Al Kuwait last season before thrashing them in Jayapura 6-1.

The Black Pearls luck ran out in the semi finals, losing 4-2 against Al Qadsia in Kuwait and then getting tonked 6-0 at home in the second leg.

Of course one game does not a league define and I am looking forward to catching a few more games before the end of the season. Next up is Al Sahel travelling to Al Fahaheel tonight, a meet up between two of the  bottom three but I think I will pass on that!