The overwhelming joy that prevailed among the Yemenis was not only an expression of the winning of the U-17 team in the West Asian Championship, but it was a voice and a loud roar of a people who wanted to express their presence and their mighty will in the face of the war, its princes and its parties that have been afflicted by misfortune seven years ago.
Sana’a went out in joyful processions that filled its streets and lanes chanting: “With our soul and blood, we will redeem you, Yemen.” Thousands shouted back home to Yemen. The people said, “We are here, we are still alive. We have resisted your war, struggle, killing and starvation, as was the case in Taiz, Hadhramaut, Shabwa, Saada, and the smile of Yemen.” Aden, which also expressed its overwhelming joy at the victory of the Yemeni Junior Club and their great achievement not in crowning the championship, but in uniting the Yemeni people, Aden cried out to Yemen, the people challenged the projects of fragmentation and division.
Yemenis celebrated, cheering for the national junior team, for the rare achievement of crowning the championship and defeating its host Saudi Arabia in the final match by penalty kicks, but there was someone behind all this joy and achievement, who did not shine the spotlight in the midst of this euphoria and overwhelming joy, he is the national coach of this team Qais Mohammed Salih.
The son of Crater in Aden and Al-Tilal Club, the oldest club in the Arabian Peninsula, slipped quietly into the world of training after he went through a busy football career that lasted for more than two decades with all age groups of Al-Tilal Club, which began in 1992 to 2013.
His career outside the green rectangle
He has determined his next destination outside the green rectangle, and moved to the playing lines. In 2013, he obtained a master's degree in the Department of Physical Education at the College of Education at the University of Aden. He also obtained several certificates in the field of training; including a certificate (c) for trainers from the State of Qatar, and a course for trainers Al-Baraem from Sana’a for the international lecturer Dato. At the beginning of 2018, he joined a trainer's rehabilitation program at (A) and (B) levels, which was held in the Sultanate of Oman.
After that, he returned home, trying to get his chance in the field of football training. He worked as a coach for the different age groups in a number of clubs in Aden, and then as a coach for the first team of Aden Club in the last year 2020.
On May 28, 2021, the Yemeni Football Association announced the appointment of coach Qais Muhammad Saleh as coach of the national junior team, a decision that had a great resonance in sports circles, as he is the most qualified to lead the national junior team.
In just seven months, Qais led the team after a difficult and harsh preparation period, with scant capabilities, and two training camps for the team after sifting it, in Sana’a, and then Seiyun in Hadramout, to be the first Yemeni coach to enter history, since the South Yemen Football Association was established in 1965, In the north in 1966, Qais believed in the boys of Yemen. Before the tournament started, he was asked in a press conference about the team's chances, and his response was: "We came to compete for the title."
His career history
The first start for the player Qais Mohammed Saleh was in the 1997 season, as his first participation was with Al-Tilal Club, the dean of the Arabian and Gulf clubs, to be one of the players who accompanied the last golden generations of Al-Tilal Club.
The player Qais Muhammad Saleh has participated in an important stage with Al-Tilal Club, and was one of the players in the team that won the league championship for the 2004-2005 football season, which was crowned by Al-Tilal under the leadership of coach Sami Naash, the President’s Cup for the 2007 football season, and the league runner-up for the 2001 season.
Striker Qais Mohamed Saleh also contributed a lot to improving Al-Tilal's position in official competitions through the goals he scored in many of the matches he played. During his participation with the team in football competitions he could score about 64 goals.
His football career includes many abroad participations for the period from 99-2004, including his participation with the school team in 99, which participated in the Arab school championship that was held in the Egyptian city of Alexandria and with the youth team in Taif in Saudi Arabia, and with the Olympic team in the Korean city of Busan, and in Gulf 16 in Kuwait It is the first Yemeni participation in the Gulf Championships and in the Al-Aqsa International Championship that took place in Sana'a and included Yemen, Algeria, Palestine and Oman, and Algeria won.
Joy from under the rubble of suffering
Sports in Yemen have been living in tragic conditions since the beginning of the war in the country, which has caused the suspension of sports activities, amid scant efforts to find solutions to restore sports activity in all governorates.
Since last year, the Corona virus has joined the war in influencing sports in Yemen, so that the epidemic that hits various countries of the world has eliminated a glimmer of hope for athletes whose suffering has increased as a result of these conditions that reflected on their living conditions. Especially those who depended on the sport of football as a source of income through the wages they receive for playing with the clubs.
At the beginning of the current year 2021, the sports and football community in Yemen suffered a great shock, with the death of Captain Sami Naash, the coach of the Yemeni national team and the legend of the ancient Al-Tilal Club, as a result of his infection with the Corona virus, which caused the death of a large number of Yemen’s elite from various disciplines and academic, political, literary and artistic fields. and sports.
Since the middle of the year 2021, Yemeni sport has gradually begun to return to the fore, as the city of Seiyun in the Hadhramaut governorate hosted the last stage of the revitalizing league for the clubs of the Republic of Yemen in the first and second divisions of the general league, at the Olympic Stadium in the city of Sayun, in which eight sports clubs participated, which achieved the first rank in the provincial assemblies.
Shaab Hadramout Club crowned the championship after defeating Wahdat Aden club by penalty shootout, in a match that the followers considered to be the most popular in decades.
And again in mid-September, the Yemeni Football League resumed, after a 6-year hiatus due to the war in Yemen since 2015, with the participation of 14 clubs, who competed in the championship competitions in the pool system after they were divided into two groups, each group comprising 7 clubs. For the first time in its history, Fahman Club from Abyan governorate crowned this championship.
Many in the sports community rejoiced at this return to the Yemeni Football League, as they see it as restoring the health of the collapsed Yemeni football, due to the war that has been ongoing in the country for more than six years. However, the current 2021 year was concluding with great joy that emerged from the rubble of war, with the crowning of the U-17 national team, led by national coach Qais Mohammed Saleh, in the West Asian Championship, which was held in the Saudi city of Dammam.
