Players fighting for the ball.

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 9: The Kuwait Olympic soccer team will play its third friendly match tonight against Yarmouk at 7:00 pm at Abdullah Al-Khalifa Stadium, before departing for a training camp in Thailand as part of preparations for the U-23 Asian Cup finals to be hosted by Saudi Arabia next January.

Kuwait is drawn in Group B of the U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers alongside Japan, Afghanistan, and Myanmar, which will host the group matches from September 1 to 9.

Tonight’s game follows two earlier friendlies, in which the team defeated Kazma 3-1 and overcame Fahaheel 1-0 last Thursday, thanks to a goal from Jarrah Al-Hulaileh.

Croatian head coach Dario Basic aims to use the match to evaluate player readiness and strengthen team cohesion, especially with several new additions to the squad, as the team targets strong results in the upcoming competition.

Basic, assisted by Mohammed Al-Failakawi, has called up 29 players: Jassem Al-Mutair, Abdullah Al-Ghaniman, Ahmed Boudi, Mohammed Al-Shuraifi, Abdullah Mousa, Abdulredha Shehab, Bader Al-Mutairi, Youssef Majed, Hussein Al-Aryan, Mohammed Al-Kandari, Omar Al-Mutair, Khaled Al-Kharqawi, Mohammed Al-Surai’e, Saleh Al-Matheb, Jarrah Al-Hulaileh, Salem Al-Khutlan, Omar Al-Saleem, Muntaser Abdulsalam, Omar Al-Azmi, Hussein Shehab, Abdulrahman Al-Rashidi, Ali Jabr, Nasser Al-Enezi, Bandar Al-Barazi, Abdulrahman Al-Harbi, Jassem Al-Enezi, Adel Al-Shammari, Dhari Al-Masri, Muath Al-Oseimie, and Muneer Al-Subaie.

By Hassan Mosa

Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff