The Post Gulf War 1990s: Reliving The Dreams
The 1990s marked the most diversified era in Kuwait's football league history, with Kazma winning 2 titles, Salmiya winning 3, Al Arabi and Al Qadsiya both winning an odd amount of times, as well as Al-Kuwait sharing the spoils. The formatting for the first couple of seasons after the war changed, with the league divided into two conferences, and the top 2 of each conference meeting at a final round-robin group stage event. It was more complicated, however, the team with most endurance came out of it alive and winner of the league. The rivalry between Al-Arabi and Al-Qadsia was short lived after the war. The scene then moved to Kazma who promised to relive their 1980s memories by winning another 2 titles in the mid 1990s. However this soon became part of history as Kazma failed to win a fifth league trophy since then. Although AlArabi and AlQadsiya had their own bit of success during the 1990s, as well as Kuwait FC, the most remember team of the 1990s was undoubtedly Salmiya. The decade belonged to their prestige and dominance. Though they only won it 3 times, it was one trophy more than any other winning team of the 1990s decade. Additionally, no team ever came close to contesting their top spot. Salmiya won the league in seasons 94/95 finishing 7 points clear of second place Qadsiya, 97/98 finishing 9 points clear of second place Kazma and 99/00 finishing 3 points clear of second place Qadsiya in the final round group stages. The team was well remembered for having a number of dream strikers, including the duo Jassem Al Howaidi and Bashar Al Abdallah - who both played for the Kuwait national side between 1997-2002. It was the second golden generation of Kuwait's national football team, which won back-to-back gulf cup titles, came fourth in Asian Cup 96 and qualified for the 2000 Summer olympics in Sydney. The duo not only reflected their talents internationally, but they also set the record for winning 3 league championships in the 1990s as well as winning the prince cup in 2000.
Kazma also had golden moments in the 1990s by winning 2 league championships, a gulf club championship (becoming the 2nd Kuwaiti team to win it since Al-Arabi) in addition to 2 consecutive Prince Cups in the mid 1990s. Although Kazma is more successful in the trophy titles than Salmiya, both teams are remembered to be part of the new "big 5", a concept introduced in the 1980s after they joined the big-3 dominance and also became a major player in Kuwaiti football.
Now the question remains of who would join the big-six...
Read more about this topic: Kuwaiti Premier League
Famous quotes containing the words post, gulf, war and/or dreams:
“I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage, with my books, my family and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post which any human power can give.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“I candidly confess that I have ever looked on Cuba as the most interesting addition which could ever be made to our system of States. The control which, with Florida, this island would give us over the Gulf of Mexico, and the countries and isthmus bordering on it, as well as all those whose waters flow into it, would fill up the measure of our political well-being.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“If I had my way, this war would never have been commenced. If I had been allowed my way this war would have been ended before this.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“A novel is what you dream in your night sleep. A novel is
not waking thoughts although it is written and thought
with waking thoughts. But really a novel goes as
dreams go in sleeping at night and some dreams are like
anything and some dreams are like something and some
dreams change and some dreams are quiet and some dreams
are not. And some dreams are just what any one would
do only a little different always just a little
different and that is what a novel is.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)