Saudi Arabia revived its hopes in the 19th Gulf Cup tournament after thrashing Yemen 6-0 at the Police Stadium in Muscat on Thursday. Saudi striker Yasser Al-Qahtani put his side ahead before Malek Al-Hawsawi doubled the lead minutes later. Abdullah Shuhail, Ahmed Atif, Ahmed Al-Mosa added their names to the scoresheet before the break while Al-Hawsawi scored his second and the sixth for the team in the second half. Saudi Arabia and defending champion the United Arab Emirates share the top spot in Group B with four points. The UAE could add only a point to its three points it already had after sharing the spoils with Qatar in a goalless draw. The defeat, meanwhile, made Yemen the second team to be knocked out of the tournament after it failed to win a single point from its two matches so far. Asian champion Iraq was first to drop out of the event Wednesday after losing 4-0 to host Oman in a Group A encounter. The third and last round matches on Saturday and Sunday will decide the teams advancing to the semifinals. Saudi Arabia, which drew with Qatar in a goalless tie, in their opening match came to the match looking for all the three points. The Saudis broke the deadlock only four minutes into the match when Yasser Al-Qahtani put a powerful shot from inside the box into the rival's net. The trio of Al-Qahtani, Al-Hawsawi and Abdo Atif looked all pumped up for the match and dictated the rhythm of the match. The Kingdom was 2-0 up eight minutes later when Al-Hawsawi headed Abdo Atif's long cross to the far left of Yemeni goalkeeper Saud Al-Sawadi. Yemen failed to resist the pressing Saudi side and went down 3-0 in the 18th minute with a Abdullah Shuhail kick. A minute later, Ahmed Atif made it 4-0 when shot the ball from inside the box into the Yemeni net. Saudi keeper Waleed Abdullah was not tested during the first half as all Yemen attempts were checked before they reached the danger area. Ahmed Al-Mosa took the Saudi team into the break with a five-goal lead when he shot the ball from the angle of the box to the left side of Al-Sawadi. Yemen rearranged its lines in the second half and created some hurdles for the Saudi defense. Saudi coach Nasser Al-Johar also made some changes bringing in Nasser Al-Shamrani for Al-Qahtani and Taiser Al-Jassem for Khaled Aziz. Yemen was reduced to 10 players in the 73rd minute after Ali Al-Amoqi was shown the red card. Al-Hawsawi scored his double through a header to seal the big win for Saudi Arabia seven minutes from whistle. __
