Bader Al-Mutwa
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| Bader Al-Mutawa | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | January 10, 1985 (age 22) | |
| Place of birth | , Kuwait | |
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | |
| Playing position | Second Striker | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Al-Qadisiya | |
| Number | 17 | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 2002-present | Al-Qadisiya | ? (?) |
| National team | ||
| 2003-present | Kuwait | ? (27) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Bader Al-Mutuwa (born January 10, 1985) is a Kuwaiti Football Team player.
Bader plays for the Kuwaiti Sports Club Team known as the Qadsia Sporting Club, as well as the Kuwaiti national football team, where he usually operates as a second striker behind fellow Al Qadisiya team mate Khalaf Al Salama or Kuwaiti newcomer Fahad Al-Rashidi, He wears the Number 17 Jersey for both club and country. Bader scored 40 goals in all club competitions this season, Ever since making his debut for the Kuwaiti national team back in 2003 at the age of 18, Bader has been one of the rising stars in gulf football, he's considered by many as the most talented Kuwaiti footballer since Bashar Abdullah (who also debuted at the age of 18 years old back in 1996) and is touted as the long term successor for the retired Kuwaiti star.
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[edit] Club Career:
Ever since emerging from Al Qadisiya's youth team back in 2002, Bader has been an exciting prospect of the Kuwaiti Football League, helping his team win several domestic trophies such as the Kuwaiti league and the Prince cup, as well as reaching the semi finals of the 2006 Asian Champions League.
[edit] International Career:
Bader's first major competition on international level was the Gulf Cup 2003 which was hosted by his country Kuwait, unfortunately, the home side failed to impress as they finished sixth with only five points from six matches (only Yemen, the newcomer to the Gulf cup finished the tournament with less points, a lot of Kuwaiti fans were relieved that Yemen participated because it spared Kuwait the embarrassment of ending up at the bottom of the table of the gulf cup for the first time in their history), never the less, Bader did manage to find the net once in Kuwait's only victory of the tournament against Yemen (4-0 it ended).
It was at the Gulf Cup 2004 that Bader truly made a name for himself, perhaps one of his most memorable goals was the 87th minute winner against Saudi Arabia in Kuwait's opening match, Bader excelled in this tournament, forming a solid striker partnership with Kuwait captain and star striker Bashar Abdullah, they managed to score five goals between them, however, much to Kuwaiti fans regrets, this partnership was short lived as Bashar retired from international football shortly after the tournament and Kuwait were eliminated in the Semi finals by Qatar after topping Group B with two victories and one draw with Bahrain.
Bader continued being a regular in the Kuwaiti national football team, but managed to do very little as his country failed to qualify for the 2006 world cup after a 0-3 loss to Saudi arabia and the 2008 Asian cup finals after a 1-2 loss to Bahrain in a match where Kuwait only needed a draw to qualify.
Bader's latest contribution to his country was an equalizing goal against Yemen in the 2007 Gulf cup, and another equalizing goal against the UAE in the final group match which saw Kuwait exit the gulf cup for the first time in their history without winning a single game, in this tournament, Bader played in his usual Second Striker position behind Al Tadamon's striker and top goal scorer of the Kuwaiti league Fahad al Rashidi, the pair failed to produce the desired partnership, and once again, despite the heroic efforts against the UAE, Kuwait ended their gulf cup campaign poorly, and left even more question marks on the future of Kuwaiti football.
[edit] Playing Style:
Although a great finisher with an impressive goal scoring record, Bader is more comfortable playing the role of the second striker, where his tight ball control and great passing is a great asset to both club and country. A recent example of his ability to create opportunities for his team mates was in the 1-2 loss to Oman in the second match of Gulf cup 18, Bader had the ball with only two minutes remaining, he first ran into the opponent's goal before turning the other way as though he was backing off, drawing two Omanian players in the process, Bader then played an unexpected through ball from a very awkward position, it curled all the way to Al Qadisiya team mate Nawaf al Mutairy, who was unmarked in a promising position down the right flank, unfortunately, Al Mutairy wasted this great opportunity by crossing the ball wide where he could've easily fed the ball into the box where there were three Kuwaiti players waiting. This killed the hopes of kuwaities for a late equalizer, as they realized they couldn't have gotten a better opportunity than this.
Kuwait manager Saleh Zakariya's controversial decision of dropping experienced strikers like Faraj Laheeb and Khalaf Al Salama meant that the Kuwaiti national team was short on players up front, Khalaf Al Salama's omission from the squad meant Bader would have to play behind young al tadamon sporting club striker Fahad al Rashidi, many thought despite the promise that the former has shown, Khalaf al Salama would've been a better choice since he and Bader Al Mutawa are the two main strikers in Al Qadisiya sporting club and they get along well.
Bader usually keeps his cool in tough situations, when Kuwait were surprisingly 0-1 down to Yemen with little over twenty minutes left, Kuwait were rewarded a penalty and Bader stepped up to take it, he was calm despite the tremendous pressure, and scored with style as he sent the Yemen goal keeper the wrong way.
[edit] 2006 Asian Player of the Year:
Bader's superb performance for both Club and Country didn't go unnoticed as he was voted the 2nd best Asian player in 2006 after Qatar's khalfan Ibrahim, a funny thing that occurred during the ceremony was that Bader was handed the prize for 3rd place, which originally belongs to Saudi international Mohammed al Shalhoub, this was corrected later on and the Asian football Committee assured that Bader had won 2nd place.
