Outsider here, Saudi Arabia always had very good and talented squads throughout it history, I was wondering why has Saudi football fallen on hard times since 2002? I know you made the WC in 20006 but it seems like the decline started in 02.
2002 was more than a decade ago, so this isn't just a case of "falling on hard times." If you look at the sport scene in saudi, you'll find nothing worth mentioning other than football. Small islands have achieved more success in sports than they have (ignoring football). They're not a very sport loving nation, but they love football. Money managed to bring them up and allow them stay relevant till all other Asian nations started spending like them. After that their one advantage was gone.
The biggest challenge in football or any other sport is managing the transition period well. When players retire you need to keep another one ready before hand which has not happened in the Saudi NT. Many players retired at same point of time leaving wide gaps in the team. Sacking of coached frequently and mismanagement led to the disaster .
Are you talking about big spending in football or the other sports? I can agree on the latter but not necessarily on the former. @al ittihady raised a good points in his post.
Thanks yea I agree I think the same can we said for other NT Australia is struggling with the phasing out of their golden generation but they still made the WC. Saudi Arabia would have only missed 2 cycles which is not horrible. Unless there play in AFC and it cups were just as bad then there is cause for despair. I was wondering also the role and presence of foreign players on the saudi NT especially from Somali how have they been incorporated into the squad. Do they have passports I suppose and play in the Saudi domestic league hence their easy transition into the NT...
Sami Al Jaber 2006 WC vs Tunisia World Cup '94 -- Al Owairan -- Saudi Arabia vs Belgium Ah better times
Well, I would say that 2002 and afterwards was the "Effect", not the "Cause". The "Cause" lies before 2002 and if we rationally consider "7" years backward then cause would lie in 1996 to 1998 period. Rest of the research can be done by you guys...
Hi Guys, Any Idea which this World Cup was that Saudi won in 2006 ? It seems that it was some sort of youth world cup anyhow, did the players from this team got the chance to play in the Senior National Team ?... By the way, the Saudi Forward # 17 scored hatric (4 goals) in the final match against Holland.
No, it's actually a tournament for players with intellectual disabilities. The NT won it too in 2010. The 2006 team was coached by Abdulaziz Alkhaled. I'm not sure but I heard one of the players was playing for one of the 1st division clubs. Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INAS_World_Football_Championships
Actually, looking at the clip, the Dutch players look like normal intelligent people (facial expressions and all) and to me less "mentally challenged" than the Saudi players. And having viewed the criteria to qualify to play in this competition as provided in the wiki link, I am certain that quite a few of our professional players can easily qualify to play in them!
@al ittihady I heard that a lot but I don't think the violation of this rule will go undetected in such an international event.
The word is that the Saudi FA has asked his club (Ahli of U.A.E.) to have their manager on loan for Asian Cup. Normally the clubs rightfully refuse to do that but both countries (Saudi Arabia & U.A.E) have a politically good relations between each other and I expect that to play some rule in "persuading" Ahli if they think about "No" as an answer.
The FA is literally going from door to door to ask for a coach which is shamless. Taking a coach on loan is another disgusting one since he knows win or lose , I am not going to end up here so why bother much. One thing cant be clear why cant FA look beyond a coach other than who has coached Hilal..
Yeah, it just shows how low have the FA gone. I don't think I've seen something similar has happened with any national team. Totally unprofessional. I don't mind Cosmin himself, in fact I think he maybe among the best 3-options out there. He knows the country and the league and he has an impressive record in the gulf region. The only problem (besides the short time given obviously) is how much of pressure is he going to get due to the known reasons of his departure from Suadi Arabia, and there will be also questions about favoring Hilal players no matter who he picks but I think we are used to the latter by now.
So its official Cosmin to lead the team in Asian Cup on loan..Its shame to see how a coach who was thrown out the country is bought back again....But Karma has played its part here..
If you go and look at the Wikipedia pages of the 1994 World Cup squad, you'll see most of them retired around 2000. There's no good youth system in place to produce new young players so we've ended up with this lot.
But money isn't a problem why has the commitment dropped since 94? Seems like most of the team are Horn of Africa orgin (Somali, ethiopian) why are not Saudi natives joining the team more.