No chance, why would Australia send a weakened team? It's international football, no one sends a weakened team anywhere. As a Thai supporter, I do believe you will beat us in Saudi, putting yourselves 1 point ahead of us. Now, I think at best we can draw Australia at home and you will beat Oman, so your 3 points ahead with better head 2 head. At this moment a win for you really does suddenly turn it on its head. Now, I know you guys and the Iranian members here have somewhat of a ding dong, but what would you prefer? A walk in the park now to be found out at the next stage or a struggle now to put it right when it matters. Yes, Iran kicked Bahrain's arse, but I half expect them to think they can do this in the next round, and this is a next round that pits anyone with Australia, South Korea or Japan, it's a different ball game. If Saudi do make the next round, I think they would have learnt an awful lot from this round. If they don't make the next round, then it is back to basics really. I would suggest get rid of Riykaard who is a big name and bring someone with experience in, there's plenty of Eastern European's who don't have a name but know what there doing. But to be honest, I don't see this route, I see you qualifying, I see us getting the plaudits. And to be hinest, I don't think we are ready for the next round. We are just building now, to make the next round really makes us feel better than we are. We need the bad luck now, we need the close qualification that hurts us to make us better. Qualifying for enxt round wouldn't make us better, it would just hide what we are.
Yep. Our team for the Thailand game will be the same team as we send to Oman: our strongest. But, we will probably field an experimental team when you guys visit, so there's that.
Hmmm... we've already qualified from not even the last round of world cup qualifying....Let's call all our Europe based stars to play some meaningless matches against Oman! I doubt any coach wants to do bad. Truth is, he was hired too late and does not know the players very well.
We haven't qualified until we beat Oman, and why then call up different players in the space of four days for Thailand?
Why risk playing 1st teamers when you've already qualified? This is a great time to give match experience to new players. It's simple logic, all teams do it.
Uh, we still have to get the points to qualify, so why disrupt a winning side? Besides, our first teamers aren't exactly fragile. If we lose in Muscat we will need points in Bangkok or it will have to come down to the final day. Better to wrap this thing up in Oman with our strongest team before we get experimental.
Even then, the logistics of getting together another squad would be a huge unnecessary pain in the arse. It'll be the same squad for both games and we might rest guys for the Thai game but the competition for places is so strong it will offer Saudi no relief
Trust me guys... saudi will qualify to the next round the main contender is thailand not oman thailand played beautifully all their three games the next match against thailand is THE most important because i think thailand able to beat oman away in the last game ..and yasser al qahtani must quits national team for his own sake you only need good striker to put the ball in the net
I would have suggest instead of sending a complete B-team to GCC Games the FA could have send a balanced team like we had in Gulf Cup.Take out of form strikers like Sahlawi,Harthi, Muaz and Yousef Salem in the team to find replacement for Yasser.In the midfield some promising youngsters. Regarding the Thailand match I certainly believe that Thailand might play for a draw to preserve the 2 points lead they have which will eventually put us in more trouble.
But the games aren't meaningless, they are critical games to keep moulding your team together. Every national team brings a full strength squad for friendlies, so why wouldn't they have a full strength team for a qualifier, meaningless or not. They would have 7 to 8 regular players and then a few experimental lads playing to fit into the system. It seems you have the opinion that any one might just turn up for them, but it doesn't work like that.
Too right we will play for a draw. We certainly won't win it and I think we will struggle to score from anything other than a set piece. If we can nick one then it's possible. We will be hard to break down, thats what the new coach has brought to us, but we are shy in front of goal still.
Squads are 23 men. You could put together a whole different team from squads that are travelling together. No need to call up any more people. That's what I mean by weakened team. 3 or 4 new players inserted into a regular side for match experience.
What kind of team Australia fields isn't an issue. Saudi has to go for the win in the remaining games. We get 9 points, nothing else matters. Anything else and its out of our hands. If it gets to that we don't deserve to qualify.
I believe that Saudi is in similar situation as they were during WC 2010 qualifying match against North Korea in Riyadh ... It's "Do OR Die" game against Thailand ... And I have only 1 thing to say to Saudi National Team ... "JUST DO IT !!! " .
What Saudi NT in general, and Yasser Al Qahtani in particular, is lacking at the moment is "Confidence". Yaser only needs 1 goal to regain his confidence & form ... He was near to achieve it twice in the game against Thailand ... I feel that the player from Saudi National Team who had gr8 game against Thailand was Ahmed Al Fraidi as he made many creative moves ... Nour was normal ... Tayser was fine ... I feel that Saudi should have the following players in the starting line-up when they play in Riyadh against Thailand: 1. Fraidi 2. Nour 3. Shalhoub 4. Shamrani 5. Yasser 6. Tayser Anyways, the match is less than 1 month away as of now and Saudi will be looking to play at least 2 friendly games before the match against Thailand. Saudi must play friendly matches against North Korea and Vietnam / Singapore / China.
drop Yasser , i don't hate Yasser but i think its better for him to not play in the national team for now .
Fast forward to 1:40 [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiJCLJMpC9Y&t=1m40s"]Maz Jobrani - Terrorist Activities - YouTube[/ame]
Team for Oman and Thailand clash- 1- حسن العتيبي. (الهلال) 2- وليد عبدالله. (الشباب) 3- ياسر المسيليم. (الأهلي). 4- أحمد الكسّار. (الرائد). 5- حسن معاذ. (الشباب) 6- راشد الرهيب. (الاتحاد) 7- أسامة المولّد. (الاتحاد) 8- محمد عيد. (النصر) 9- أسامة هوساوي. (الهلال) 10- حمد المنتشري. (الاتحاد) 11- عبدالله الزوري. (الهلال) 12- عبدالله الأسطاء. (الشباب) 13- سعود كريري. (الاتحاد) 14- أحمد الفريدي. (الهلال) 15- ابراهيم غالب. (النصر) 16- أحمد عطيف. (الشباب) 17- تيسير الجاسم. (الأهلي) 18- يحيا الشهري. (الاتفاق) 19- عبدالعزيز الدوسري. (الهلال) 20- محمد الشلهوب. (الهلال) 21- نوّاف العابد. (الهلال) 22- محمد نور. (الاتحاد) 23- نايف هزّازي. (الاتحاد) 24- ياسر القحطاني. (العين الاماراتي) 25- ناصر الشمراني. (الشباب) 26- يوسف السالم. (الاتفاق)