FT: Uzbekistan 2-3 KSA KSA wins out of no where with a very dodgy performance..The game was headed for a dab draw but Uzbek pulled back with penalty & then Salman drew with deflected strike and Salem sealed the comeback with a beautiful chip. Overall, nothing much to talk about the team..Can't say Herve' is poor or the team is still learning the tactics but as I said before he wont be surviving long. He has Gulf Cup to play for in Qatar & I hope the FA sends A-team and let the coach gel well with players and apply his mindset in this meaningless yet prestigious tournament
The goals were scored for KSA by Mid-Fielder players, and the game still shows that Saudi lacks Forward / Strikers... The Saudi Coach Herve' should go to Gulf Cup with Full Squad, and should also include "Saleh Al-Shehri" from Al-Hilal as he seems to be a promising striker for Saudi Arabia. Was Yahya Shehri playing the game today ?... Didn't saw him except for once in the entire game... Useless, and liability of the team
the team no doubt still misses the real striker or what we call it No# 9 player. for me that of the main reasons behind that is the so many foregin players in the league, and most of them are strikers. so saudi strikers don't get the full chance to play for their teams.
When did Saleh Sehri played last for Hilal ? He has lack of game time as Feras Berkan and Haroune Camara..Abdullah Hamdan occasionaly plays for Shabab. I too prefer Herve to go with full squad but don't see it happening since the can't stop the league all of a sudden. Yahya will be dropped when Nawaf will be fully fit to play for the NT.
Welcom @omaro There is strong rumors the foreign players limit will be brought down to 4 next season so let's wait and watch.
I met Majed Abdullah during Asian Cup 2019, and he was of the opinion that it should be restricted to max. 3 foreign players
thanks a lot. if i'm not mistaken, they have been talking about such thing since last season but they didn't approve it yet. we shall see
i doubt they will accept to have only 3 foreign players as it was few seasons ago. it's gonna be at least 4 or 5 foreigners
Some good news is Saudi Professional will be stopped for 2 weeks which means we are going to play A team in Gulf Cup... Good chance for Renard to gather his players and implement his philosophy..
Not so shocked from the team selection, but many are disappointed with Hattan Bhabri in the team despite poor showing. Some predictable line-up I can see - Mohammed Owais ( Although I prefer Fawaz for his show against Paraguay ) Yasser Shahrani Ziyad Shafi Abdullah Mado Muhammed Burayk Salman Faraj Abdullah Otayf Yahya Sehri Hattan Bhaberi Salem Dawsari Abdullah Hamdan. Overall I am expecting poor show from the players especially from Hilal players as they already have played too many games this season & plus Ittihad players who were also active on Arab Club Championship.
Just wondering, I'm no expert of Saudi football, so is this basically your strongest side Saudi is sending to the Gulf Cup? Anyhoo, going to the game on Wednesday vs Kuwait. Wish you luck in the Gulf Cup
To be honest I am not expecting much from the team & might just squeeze into Semis. Hilal & Ittihad players have already played lots of matches this season & I am not expecting a top notch performance from any of them especially Hilal players since they have CWC upcoming & would not want themselves to get injured or fatigue at any cost..
Okay, I was just wondering... it's kind of strange that Saudi are not more dominant in this tournament than they have been historically, or recently.. when you think of football and the Gulf, Saudi Arabia instantly spring to mind as the powerhouse (Asian Cup titles, World Cup qualifications, etc.), but they only have Gulf Cup titles and their last coming in 2003. I know last GCON, I think Saudi sent a B or youth team if I'm not mistaken so I was just wondering if this is the case this time... and yeah, I'm surprised Al Hilal are taking any players for that matter given this is being squeezed between the two events. Anyhoo, I've created a Gulf Cup thread in case anyone's interested here. I will try and post some updates from the stadiums when I do get to go... https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/2019-gulf-cup-of-nations.2107433/
Last GCC cup was a mess & therefore they decided to send a B-Team & also they had qualifications up & running. KSA have won Asian Cup long back but now being considered a power house is debatable.. The team is in transistion phase now since both senior CB's have retired & we have a unestablished CB pairing currently. Striker role is still in mess still. The second choice players for each position are currently too young & have no or very little experience..
Abdullah Al Hafez (Al Hilal) and Mohammad Al Jahfli (Al-Hilal) can easily fill in the CB roles. Saad Al Shehri (Al Hilal) can also fill in the striker role
many thanks i missed watching it live. i watched the highlights though hopefully they show better performance & result v Bahrain in the 2nd round
FT: KSA 2-0 Bahrain.. Finally some good game.. The team missed Abed & he paid off.. Abdullah Hamdan showed some glimpse of being the "#9" for KSA but a long way to go. Scenario for KSA on last match Day: Matches: KSA vs Oman Bahrain vs Kuwait S1: KSA needs to beat Oman simple as that. S2: KSA Draw Oman and Bahrain beats Kuwait by single goal margin & KSA qualifies on H2H record with Bahrain
just realized it's only 1 days rest between teams in this group... crazy! Yesterday, Kuwait vs Oman + Saudi vs Bahrain... today rest, tomorrow Oman vs Saudi + Kuwait vs Bahrain... for Bahrain + Saudi it's less that 48 hours after their last match!
KSA beats Oman 3-1 and qualifies for Semis & will face Qatar. After loosing first game against Kuwait the team went on to beat Bahrain and Oman. Any thoughts on Renard so far?
Renard is an African legend no? I mean African Cup of Nations with Ivory Coast + Zambia ... plus World Cup qualification for Morocco. Good to see him in AFC, seems like he'd suit Saudi well. Anyhoo, see you guys Thursday!