national football team. See the article South Yemen national football team for details on the South Yemen team. Despite being the 5th most populated country in the Middle East, and Yemen's successes at the Youth teams such as the U23, U20 and U17 Yemen, so far, Yemen has never achieved the same success as those with smaller populations like the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Syria, Jordan and Oman. Early history 1965–1966 North Yemen debuted at the 1965 Pan Arab Games in Cairo, Egypt in August 1965. It lost the first game 9–0 to Sudan, then lost 16–1 to Libya. After losing 4–0 to Syria, North Yemen won for the first time by defeating Oman 2–1 in the last game in the group. North Yemen did not advance. In April 1966, the team entered the 1966 Arab Cup in Baghdad, Iraq. It was placed in Group 2. North Yemen lost its first match 4–1 to Syria on 1 April, and then 7–0 to Palestine three days later. On 5 April, they lost their last match 13–0 to Libya, and were eliminated, finishing bottom of the group. Also in 1966, North Yemen entered the Games of the Emerging Forces in Cambodia. They lost their opener 5–3 against Palestine. The remaining games in their group were lost 8–0 to the hosts Cambodia, 9–0 to North Vietnam, 14–0 to North Korea and 6–0 to China. 1984–1989 Following the tournament in Cambodia, North Yemen did not play a match for eighteen years, returning in 1984 in an attempt to qualify to the 1984 Asian Cup. This was their first entrance of the competition. They were placed at the qualifiers in Group 3 with all matches held in Calcutta, India in October 1984. North Yemen lost the first match on 10 October, 6–0 to South Korea, for whom Park Sung-Hwa scored four goals and Chung Hae-Won two. Two days later, they lost 2–0 to hosts India. On 15 October North Yemen lost 4–1 to Pakistan and three days later by the same score to Malaysia. North Yemen finished at the bottom of the group. North Yemen entered its first World Cup qualification campaign with the aim of securing a place in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. They were placed in Group 3 of the West Asia zone in the first round of the qualification campaign. North Yemen played their first match at home to Syria