Osamah Muwallad will be replaced by Mohamed Eid Al Bishi. The team has arrived in Abu Dhabi and started training without Yasse,Ibrahim Ghalib and Yahya Sehri.
Australian Squad for Saudi Arabia game: Tim CAHILL - Everton FC, ENGLAND Nathan COE - Sønderjysk Elitesport, DENMARK Luke DeVERE - Gyeongnam FC, KOREA REPUBLIC - Brett EMERTON - Blackburn Rovers, ENGLAND Adam FEDERICI - Reading FC, ENGLAND Brett HOLMAN - AZ Alkmaar, NETHERLANDS Mile JEDINAK - Crystal Palace FC, ENGLAND Josh KENNEDY - Nagoya Grampus, JAPAN Neil KILKENNY - Bristol City FC, ENGLAND Robbie KRUSE - Fortuna Dusseldorf, GERMANY Scott McDONALD - Middlesbrough FC, ENGLAND Matthew McKAY Mark MILLIGAN - JEF United, JAPAN Lucas NEILL - Al-Jazira Club, UAE Sasa OGNENOVSKI - Seongham Ilwha Chunma, KOREA REPUBLIC Adam SAROTA - FC Utrecht, NETHERLANDS Mark SCHWARZER - Fulham FC, ENGLAND Matthew SPIRANOVIC - Urawa Red Diamonds, JAPAN James TROISI - Kayserispor Kulubu, TURKEY Carl VALERI - U.S. Sassuolo Calcio, ITALY Luke WILKSHIRE - FK Dinamo Moscow, RUSSIA Rhys WILLIAMS - Middlesbrough FC, ENGLAND Michael ZULLO - FC Utrecht, NETHERLANDS Frank Rikkard should be aware of most of them ... (I Hope) .... Saudi Arabia must take maximum points in all home games and also try to get at least few draws & 01 win (against Thailand) in Away games ... However, If Australia plays with U23 or Youth Team in their Last Game against Saudi Arabia, then KSA Should go for a win ...
Its good to see Rijkaard have taken some veterans in his technical team so that they help him to understand the players better and advise him.
How so? Anyway, that's a strong Aussie side. We have to admit, unless Rijkaard pulls off some managerial magic, that we are second best.
He always underestimate Saudi football and have negative thoughts about the team.Not even 1 match has been played he is thinking of the last match with a illolgical look over it.His statement shows that he is underestimating Saudii NT against Australia and is thinking to beat them when they play with there Olympic or a weak team.He is never optimistic in any part of football.
You must be very optimistic if you believe that KSA (home based squad) can easily beat Australian Star Studded European Based squad ... I am not, the only moment I will be when KSA beats Oman in Oman with a 2-Nil scoreline otherwise, better play for a draw in KSA against Australia and don't try something Heroic as the last time KSA team did that it was against South Korea where we lost 0-2 in Riyadh .... I am not undermining Saudi Team & KSA players strength but Australian Players are far more professional in their approach and mentality ... and the past record (up till date) also show the same ... Always analyze on the basis of ground reality, not hope ... KSA do stand a chance against Oman but Australia is a different proposition ... Besides, you can not always rely on your past glory of 94 ... it's part of history now. Look at present where KSA Senior Team has achieved nothing in any competitive championship ... 1st KSA failed to qualify to the WC 2010, couldn't beat North Korea & Bahrain in your own backyard ... failed miserably at the Asian Cup in Qatar and went down 0-5 against Japan where hardly there was any nice movement / attack on Japanese goal by the KSA team... failed to beat Kuwait in the final of Gulf Cup ... The only achievement since 2006 has been that KSA U20 team performed well at the FIFA U20 WC @ Colombia ... Now compare the above with Australia: Aussie qualified to WC2010, Aussies were Runner-up's in the Asian Cup @ Qatar ... Aussie also played few friendlies in recent weeks (on FIFA dates) and performed just like any top-notch European Team performs in any game ... Now, don't be scared ... fingers crossed, if KSA plays well against Oman then we will be able to know how KSA is going to perform against Aussie in Dahran ... There's a saying that "Coming Events Cast Their Shadows Before They Happen" so, this is the case with Saudi Team ... we will get to know if they are likely to get a positive result against Aussie in Dahran (and also considering that Aussie will play Thailand 4 hours ahead of the KSAvsOman game while Aussie will also have to travel for 6 to 8 hours to Dahran from Australia, again the game will be played in high humid conditions) so advantage is with KSA never the less ...
Don't be scared ..., Aussie will play Thailand 4 hours ahead of KSA vs Oman game while Aussie will also have to travel for 6 to 8 hours to Dahran from Australia. The game will also be played in high humid conditions while Rikkard will be aware of the KSA players skills before that game ... Moreover, Rikkard will have to pump in KSA players mind that if Aussie can perform then KSA can perform 1 better ... this will be more of a mental fitness game ... moreover, the Saudi Crowd can play their part by pressurizing the Aussie team with their loud speakers and gun shots, etc ... This will be a real cracker of a game if Saudi manages to handle the pressure from their end ... If saudi arabia can play well against Brazil in FIFA U20 WC then KSA Senior team can play much, much better against Australia ... again, fingers crossed.
I did not hammer on that point only but looking all of his previous post also. I openly say Sorry to him but sometimes I really get pissed off when some one again and again is downgrading something and have negative approach towards it everytime. @Hammad and BP- I am not saying that we are more superior than Aussie or Aussie are more superior to us.We have never met them in past several years.Also consedering that Aussie players are super stars then I wont support them along with the point that they have all the european based players.In that we would never had beaten South Korea and Japan in our lifetime.We have beaten both the teams evenly and our head to head records are not of wide difference. If we consider the performance of players in WCQ then it is different issue and of the Asian Cup is different one.And please dont look at the past records of the Aussie team.They have always struggled against Gulf sides in both Home and away matches.They only win coz teams get scared of them for no reason. All and all there is no reason to panic.To my sense before meeting Aussies the players have stiff test against Oman as they will be playing first time under the tactics of FR and may find difficult to get down to the game as required which may affect the teams performance. Once again no hard feelings.
We are not weak at all.We are still the strongest on paper.The team lacks motivation and proper support which comes from everywhere.The managerial changes affects the team a lot.Our midfield is at par with some young promising players,defense is stable but good and only problem but a minor is the attacking partnership.We have good no. of strikers but there is no good partnership we can rely on.Sometimes Yasser is injured or suspended,sometimes Nasser has the same issues,Hazazi is also injury prone striker and carry on.
So, in this case, KSA should play with 02 Attacking Mid-Fielder & 01 Defensive Mid-Fielder, while the formation should be 3-3-4-1
^ did u mean 3-3-3-1 ? anyway that's the best formation for Saudi Arabia imo . but the team needs an attacking midfielder that scores a lot of goals but that also means we will abandon the wings , so we need half backs to block wings attacks which is common with Australia .
Following is the Oman Squad: Ali Al Habsi (Wigan), Mohammed Huwaidi (Muscat), Faiz Al Rushaidi (Al Suwaiq), Mohammed Al Sheiba (Al Wasl), Hassan Mudhafar (Al Wahda), Saad Suhail (Al Oruba), Ismail Al Ajmi (Al Kuwait), Ahmed Mubarak ‘Kanu’ (Al Ahli), Fawzi Bashir (Bani Yas), Ahmed Hadid (Al Jaish), Imad Al Hosni (Al Rayyan), Hassan Rabia (Al Nassr), Hashim Saleh (Dhofar), Qasim Masoud, Abdulrahman Saleh, Mohammed Saleh, Eid Al Farsi, Ahmed Saleem, Nasser Al Ali, Hamoud Al Saadi, Rashid Al Farsi, Abdullah Al Handasi Don't know whose going to be Oman's first 11 on the field.
The coach will probably use 2 attacking midfielders with one striker or 2 strikers with one attacking midfielder probably Nawaf Abed. [LINEUP-4-5-1]Walled Abdulllah,Hassan Muath,Abdullah Suhail,Hamad Monthashri,Osamah Hawawi,Ibrahim Ghalib,Tayseer Jasem,Yahya Sehri,Shalhoub,Nawaf Abed,Nasser Shamrani[/LINEUP-4-5-1]
Looking at the Omans squad I think there danger men is Ali Al Habsi,Imad Hosni and Fawzi Basheer.But the most dangerous among them will be there Ali Habsi who have good record against Saudi and have lot of better experience in EPL. Meanwhile the Saudi team will play a close door friendly match against Wehda Club of UAE.
My starting eleven for todays match- Waleed Abdullah Hassan Muath Abdullah Suhail Osamah Hawsawi Hamad Monthashri Tayseer Jasem Saud Kariiri Nawaf Abed Shalhoub Ahmed Fraidy Nasser Shamrani.