2012 Arab Nations Cup

2012 Arab Cup
Tournament details
Host country Saudi Arabia
Dates 22 June – 6 July
Teams 11 (from 2 confederations)
Venue(s) 2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions  Morocco (1st title)
Runners-up  Libya
Third place  Iraq
Fourth place  Saudi Arabia
Tournament statistics
Matches played 19
Goals scored 47 (2.47 per match)
Top scorer(s) Morocco Yassine Salhi
(6 goals)
Best player Morocco Yassine Salhi

The 2012 Arab Cup (Arabic: كأس العرب 2012‎) was the 10th edition of the Arab Nations Cup, also referred to as the Arab Cup for national football teams affiliated with the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA).

The tournament was hosted by Saudi Arabia between 22 June and 6 July 2012.[1] It is the second time that the nation has hosted the tournament, the first being in 1985. This edition witnessed the return of Iraq – the most successful team and record holder of the Arab Nations Cup with four titles – after a 25-year absence due to the Gulf War.

Prize money

The tournament's lead sponsor was Singaporean company World Sport Group[2] who describe themselves as "Asia's leading sports marketing, media and event management company."[3]

The winner received USD$1million, the runner-up will receive $600,000, the third placed team will receive $300,000, while the other participating football associations will receive $200,000 each.[4]

Teams

Participating

Country Confederation Previous appearances in tournament
 Bahrain AFC 4 (1966, 1985, 1988, 2002)
 Egypt (Olympic team)[5] CAF 3 (1988, 1992, 1998)
 Iraq AFC 4 (1964, 1966, 1985, 1988)
 Kuwait AFC 7 (1963, 1964, 1966, 1988, 1992, 1998, 2002)
 Lebanon AFC 6 (1963, 1964, 1966, 1988, 1998, 2002)
 Libya1 CAF 3 (1964, 1966, 1998)
 Morocco (Local team) CAF 2 (1998, 2002)
 Palestine AFC 3 (1966, 1992, 2002)
 Saudi Arabia AFC 5 (1985, 1988, 1992, 1998, 2002)
 Sudan CAF 2 (1998, 2002)
 Yemen AFC 2 (1966, 2002)
Bold indicates champion for that year
1Libya were due to send their under-21 team but instead sent its senior national team.[6][7]

Did not enter

Africa
Asia

Draw

The official draw was held on 6 May 2012 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The remaining 11 teams were ranked based on the FIFA World Rankings of May 2012 before the draw.

Seeding pots Nation FIFA Rankingas of May 2012
Pot A  Saudi Arabia 89
 Libya 39
 Egypt 55
Pot B  Morocco 62
 Iraq 70
 Kuwait 87
Pot C  Bahrain 93
 Sudan 113
 United Arab Emirates 121
Pot D  Lebanon 128
 Palestine 153
 Yemen 156

The United Arab Emirates withdrew from the competition after the group draw had been made; they were initially drawn into group A.[10]

It will be played as tournament with three groups made of four teams each. The organizer country, Saudi Arabia was assigned to Group A.

Venues

Jeddah
Ta’if
 Ta’if
Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium King Fahd Stadium
Capacity: 20,000 Capacity: 17,000

Squads

For more details on this topic, see 2012 Arab Nations Cup squads.

Group stage

Group A

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Saudi Arabia 211062+44
 Kuwait 210124−23
 Palestine 201124−21

22 June 2012
19:45
Saudi Arabia  4 – 0  Kuwait
Al-Sahlawi  22', 90+3'
Al-Mehyani  51', 56'

25 June 2012
19:45
Kuwait  2 – 0  Palestine
Khamis  27'
Al-Rashidi  90+2'
King Fahd Stadium
Referee: Hamad Al-Sheikh (United Arab Emirates)

28 June 2012
19:45
Saudi Arabia  2 – 2  Palestine
Abdullah  9'
Al-Zylaeei  85' 		Abu Saleh  45+1' (pen.)
Al Amour  73'
King Fahd Stadium
Referee: Khalid Abdel Rahman (Sudan)

Group B

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Morocco A' 321080+87
 Libya 321052+37
 Yemen 310237−43
 Bahrain 300318−70

23 June 2012
18:15
Morocco A'  4 – 0  Bahrain
El Bahri  17'
Salhi  78'
Al-Hayam  83' (o.g.)
Benjelloun  90+'
Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium
Referee: Abdullah Al-Balooshi (Qatar)

23 June 2012
21:00
Libya  3 – 1  Yemen
Saad  17' (pen.)
Salama  53'
Al-Ghuwail  89' 		Al-Sasi  69'
Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium
Referee: Suleiman Jaber (Jordan)

26 June 2012
18:15
Bahrain  0 – 2  Yemen
Al-Selwi  53' (pen.)
Baroies  65'
Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium
Referee: Slim Jedidi (Tunisia)

26 June 2012
21:00
Libya  0 – 0  Morocco A'
Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium
Referee: Djamel Haimoudi (Algeria)

29 June 2012
19:45
Libya  2 – 1  Bahrain
Saad  71' (pen.)
Al-Ghannoudi  74' 		Al-Khataal  38'
King Fahd Stadium
Referee: Hamad Al-Sheikh (UAE)

29 June 2012
19:45
Yemen  0 – 4  Morocco A'
Salhi  10' (pen.), 48', 58', 63' (pen.)
Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium
Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Amri (Saudi Arabia)

Group C

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Iraq 321042+27
 Sudan 312042+25
 Egypt U23 302134−12
 Lebanon 301214−31

24 June 2012
18:15
Iraq  1 – 0  Lebanon
Karim  89'
Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium
Referee: Rédouane Jiyed (Morocco)

24 June 2012
21:00
Egypt U23  1 – 1  Sudan
Magdi  38' El-Amin  80'
Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium
Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Amri (Saudi Arabia)

27 June 2012
18:15
Lebanon  0 – 2  Sudan
Ankba  55'
Bashir  83'
Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium
Referee: Suleiman Jaber (Jordan)

27 June 2012
21:00
Iraq  2 – 1  Egypt U23
Karim  49'
Abdul-Zahra  75' 		Gomaa  45' (pen.)
Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium
Referee: Abdullah Al-Balooshi (Qatar)

30 June 2012
19:45
Egypt U23  1 – 1  Lebanon
Hamoudi  45+1' (pen.) Moghrabi  80'
King Fahd Stadium
Referee: Rédouane Jiyed (Morocco)

30 June 2012
19:45
Sudan  1 – 1  Iraq
Hamad  9' Shakir  5'
Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium
Referee: Slim Jedidi (Tunisia)

Best placed runner-up

The team that finish highest of all group runner-ups will also proceed to the semi-final stage. Due to Group A only having three teams in their group, results against teams finishing fourth will not be counted. The best runner-ups will face the winner of group A in the semifinals while the winner of group B will face the winner of group C.

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Libya 211031+24
 Kuwait 210124−23
 Sudan 20202202

Knockout phase

The semi-final winners proceed to the final and those who lost compete in the third place playoff.

Semi-finals Final
3 July - Jeddah
  Saudi Arabia   0  
  Libya   2  
 
6 July - Jeddah
      Libya   1 (1)
    Morocco A' (pens.)   1 (3)
Third place
3 July - Jeddah 5 July - Jeddah
  Morocco A'   2   Saudi Arabia   0
  Iraq   1     Iraq   1

Semi-finals

3 July 2012
18:15
Saudi Arabia  0 – 2  Libya
Al-Sebaee  75'
Saad  90+6' (pen.)
Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium
Referee: Gehad Grisha (Egypt)

3 July 2012
21:30
Morocco A'  2 – 1  Iraq
El Gharib  23'
Salhi  28' 		Karim  90+6' (pen.)
Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium
Referee: Djamel Haimoudi (Algeria)

Third place play-off

5 July 2012
21:00
Saudi Arabia  0 – 1  Iraq
Abdul-Zahra  16'
Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium
Referee: Khalid Abdurrahman (Sudan)

Final

6 July 2012
21:00
Libya  1 – 1 (a.e.t.)  Morocco A'
Al Badri  89' El Bahri  5'
  Penalties  
Al Badri
Al-Ghannoudi
Salama
Al-Sebaee 		1 – 3 Salhi
Jahouh
Abdessamad
Bourhim
Benlamalem
Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium
Referee: Slim Jedidi (Tunisia)

Winners

 2012 Arab Nations Cup Champions 

Morocco
First title

Statistics

Goalscorers

6 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

Own goal

Awards

Team statistics

Pos. Team Pld W D L Pts GF GA GD
1  Morocco 5 3 2 0 11 11 2 +9
2  Libya 5 3 2 0 11 8 3 +5
3  Iraq 5 3 1 1 10 6 4 +2
4  Saudi Arabia 4 1 1 2 4 6 5 +1
Eliminated in the group stage
5  Kuwait 2 1 0 1 3 2 4 -2
6  Sudan 3 1 2 0 5 4 2 +2
7  Yemen 3 1 0 2 3 3 7 -4
8  Egypt 3 0 2 1 2 3 4 -1
9  Palestine 2 0 1 1 1 2 4 -2
10  Lebanon 3 0 1 2 1 1 4 -3
11  Bahrain 3 0 0 3 0 1 8 -7
Total 19(1) 13 6(2) 13 51 47 47 0

Team(s) rendered in italics represent(s) the host nation(s).
(1) – Total games lost not counted in total games played (total games lost = total games won)
(2) – Total number of games drawn (tied) for all teams = Total number of games drawn (tied) ÷ 2 (both teams involved)

References

  1. ↑ الإتحاد المغربي يرفض مشاركة المنتخب في البطولة العربية بالمحترفين (in Arabic). kooora.com. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  2. ↑ جوائز مالية محفزة للمنتخبات المشاركة في كأس العرب (in Arabic). Middle East Online. 4 April 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  3. ↑ "World Sports : About us". worldsportgroup.com. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
  4. ↑ مليون دولار للفائز بكأس العرب و200 ألف لكل منتخب مشارك (in Arabic). alyaum.net. 5 April 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  5. ↑ المنتخب الأوليمبى يشارك فى كأس العرب بجدة. EFA.com (in Arabic). Egyptian Football Association. 5 January 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  6. ↑ "9th Arab Cup: Easy Win for Libya Against Yemen". Tripoli Post. 24 June 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2012. Contrary to expectations Libya fielded the national team instead of the Under 21 side and they proved much too strong for their opponents.
  7. ↑ "9th Arab Nations Cup: Libya in action against Yemen Saturday". Tripoli Post. 23 June 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2012. In Group B, Libya, which is scheduled to field its Under 21 team, has to contend with Yemen, its first opponents, Morocco and Bahrain.
  8. ↑ الجزائر تعتذر عن المشاركة في بطولة كأس العرب للأمم (in Arabic). Al Jazeera Sport. 4 January 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  9. ↑ الأردن يعتذر عن المشاركة في كأس العرب (in Arabic). Al Jazeera Sport. 9 January 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "UAE pulls out of Arab Cup of Nations after loss of players hits squad". The National (United Arab Emirates). 31 May 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  11. ↑ "حصاد كأس العرب .. 47 هدفاً و اسود أطلس يعانقون اللقب للمرة الأولى". كووورة - أحمد التيمومي. 7 July 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2012.