One of the most prestigious and winning teams of the Asian Confederation in recent years makes their sixth appearance on the World Cup, The ‘Green Falcons’ are just one of two Arab teams to have reached the last 16 round (1994), and are one of the few Asian National Teams that have achieved this feat up to this day. Saudi Arabia is no stranger to the World Cup and will practically be at home, since a few miles away fellow neighbours Qatar will be hosting the World Cup.
Local Support Will Play A Role
The ‘Green Falcons’ got drawn in a very complicated group, for starters they’ll make their debut in match-day 1 on Tuesday, November 22nd. against group and tournament favourites Argentina, so there is not going to be any time to spare. After that, Saudi Arabia will face-off against Poland, a match in which they’ll have to avoid a defeat in order to keep hopes alive, and give it their all on their final fixture of the group against an experienced Mexican team.
Seasoned National Team Manager
Saudi Arabia are coached by frenchman, Hervé Renard, a former player turned manager who led both Zambia (2012), and Ivory Coast (2015) to win the African Cup Of Nations, making him the first manager to achieve this feat with two different national teams. Renard took over the Saudi Arabia squad in 2019, making him the first Frenchman to coach “The Green Falcons”, he is the foreign manager with most victories in the history of the national team, and secured a trip to the 2022 World Cup as leaders of their qualifying group over Japan and Australia.
Local Stars With Plenty Of Potential
The squad for the Saudi Arabia team features a roster with players from their domestic league in its entirety, and has key players with plenty of experience in the National Team that could make a difference at the international tournament.
Captain and CM, Salman Al-Faraj from the Saudi Professional League team Al-Hilal, is the leader of this team, he has 68 caps and eight goals while playing for his country, along with fellow Al-Hilal teammate, Salem Al-Dawsari, a dynamic winger, they lead the ‘Green Falcons’ and have achieved a pretty impressive record during this World Cup Qualifiers.
Local Support And Nothing To Lose
While Saudi Arabia is taken for granted and seen as the inevitable victim of this challenging group, local support will play a big part on this team gaining lots of confidence as they take part on the World Cup in Qatar. There is a lot to like, specially with the results this team obtained during the qualifiers with a ‘discreet’ squad. The ‘Green Falcons’ have nothing to lose and have the potential to give us a surprise result in this group, but its uncertain if this will be enough to hold-off one of the toughest groups in the competition.
