SINGAPORE - Striker Yasser Al Qahtani will skipper Saudi Arabia at the forthcoming AFC Asian Cup after proving his fitness in their final warm-up match for the tournament on Wednesday. Al Qahtani had missed his country’s three previous tune-up games against United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Oman because of injury but the Al Hilal forward returned to face DPR Korea in Singapore on Wednesday, wearing the captain’s armband and playing nearly the entire match before being replaced 10 minutes from time. Saudi coach Helio Dos Anjos later confirmed that Al Qahtani will remain as captain for the team’s Asian Cup campaign, which begins with a heavyweight clash against Korea Republic in Jakarta on July 11. “It was decided officially at our team meeting today that Yasser Al Qahtani will be captain for the tournament,” said the Brazilian to PA Sport after the 1-1 draw with the DPR Korea. “He missed our earlier games because he was recovering from a knee injury as well as a leg muscle problem. But he has recovered well and he should be able to help us in the tournament. “I had only planned for him to play for 60 minutes but he looked good tonight and I decided to give him and Mohammed Al Shalhoub more playing time so that they can gain more match fitness before the Asian Cup.” Despite watching his side concede a late equaliser against a DPR Korea side reduced to 10 men midway through the second half, Dos Anjos was pleased with the team’s overall performance and believes that they are ready for the Asian Cup. “It was a good game for us today especially as we had all of our main players involved. Our opponents gave us a good match and the result was not important because it served as a preparation for the Asian Cup for us,” he said. “Everything has gone okay for us in these preparation games and I was very pleased with the performance of my players today because they did exactly what I asked them to do in our tactical discussion.” Saudi Arabia are in Group D for the Asian Cup and will open their campaign in Jakarta against Korea Republic on July 11. http://www.afcasiancup.com/en/news/index.asp?aid=48022&cid=1376&amth=7&ayr=2007 A Captain ? 24 Years old ?!!!
you look at the squad and there's no leadership material there. Maybe Kariri or Aziz, but otherwise not much.
For the FIRST TIME IN HIS LIFE ! Its Wrong .. We suppose to call Noor , he is the real Saudi leader and he Knows how to lead ..
Its a young squad, and Yaser has been playing international football with KSA since 2003, so he has some experience compared to others. But I think shalhoub should be captain.
Tukar should be captain. He's been playing since 2002, but probably cause he won't start they chose Yaser.
It was a joke, Hijazzey (kind of ) For the most part, i think that the most vocal of the bunch should be captain, even if it means Tukar. Who knows, the armband might motivate him to excell even further. But as I mentioned before, I haven't been following the league that closely the past couple of seasons, so I can't make a solid judgment.
Choosing a captain is not an easy task. While seniority, among other things, is important, I believe that what is more important for the Saudi NT is to have a captain with a solid personality and character, as well as good educational and social background. I say this for the Saudi NT speciafically because (and let's not lie to ourselves) for some reason quite a lot of the players (dare I say majority?) of past and present have lacked severely in these departments. We talk about fitness, professionalism, body structure etc... But the fact is the major weakness in the Saudi NT has always been mentality. I've personally seen many of them in and outside KSA and the behavior, mannerism, the way they dress etc... of most of them do not impress at all. The captain needs to be a leader whom players look up to, like Saleh Khalifa, Saleh Al-Nuwayma, Mohammad Abdel Jawad, Fouad Anwar. I don't know if Yasser will succeed, but I can't see anyone in this current NT who is better in the criteria above than him. Malek Muath, is also younger and spent less time than Yasser in the NT, in addition to being somewhat shy, which is a good quality but not for a captain.