Did not knew this - Naif Hazazi apparently has gone to Romanian League to play with Botosani FC. I hope he gets playing time and confidence there & get in eyes of Pizzi.
I still believe that he's the Striker to keep an eye on... He lost his form during all the matches of the qualifier and was dropped due to his lack of form... Poor guy had bad patch since last Asian Cup 2011 and it continued during the entire qualifier that he was involved in... He only needs one big game to regain his form and attain his past glory... He is as deadly striker as a striker can be when he's in his best form... Good that he's playing in Romania as this has given him time to regain the form... I've seen in the recent news that he did played full game in the Romanian league and scored a goal and made 2 assists in his first game or so... I hope someone tells Pizzi to keep an eye on him and who knows, he might be the striker that Saudi National Team wants to replace Sahlawi (if Saudi plays with only 1 forward)... He's more deadly in the air when compared to Sahlawi... I remember him being one of the main players in FIFA world cup 2010 qualifiers (Though Saudi missed out against Bahrain) but his goals in many games were crucial along with Shamrani.
Sometimes agents provide inflated stats about their represented players, better double-check those numbers. Naif Hazazi played his 1st official game with Romanian club Botosani on April 29: played for 18 minutes, getting a yellow card within 2 minutes of entering the game (2-1 defeat vs Gaz Metan Medias). Full match video, Hazazi enters at timestamp 1h41m20s: His Romanian club is currently playing the "Relegation round", a playoff between 8 teams which assigns 3 spots for relegation. Not sure when Botosani signed Hazazi, but his last official match was on December 24, 2017 (with Al Taawon). So, it would appear that he has recently started to recover rhythm of play. Here are Nazazi's stats since 2010-2011 season: https://int.soccerway.com/players/naif-hazazi/33331/
Salem Dawsari released from Villareal team to play with NT which means his Spanish adventure is over.
Forthcoming friendlies this month 9-5-18: Saudi Arabia - Algeria 15-5-18: Saudi Arabia - Greece 28-5-18: Saudi Arabia - Italy
I have Egypt vs. Saudi (cat 3) x 2 tickets. I will sell at face value. Please let me know if you are interested and we can meet in person in Russia.
KSA 2 - 0 Algeria. Much improved performance but some selfishness needs to be avoided otherwise the scoreline could be higher.
We need more risk taking, precise (shots) and efficiency in front of goal, there is much room for improvement in this area.
^^ Watched the match. Didn't see an "improved performance". Other than a 15 min spell at the beginning of the second half they were terrible. Lots of work needed.
They were poor yesterday and really still struggle with the same issues. Their biggest and most frightening issue is the space between the CBs and Otayf it is so exposed. Coach clearly instructed the wingers to stay put which makes a lot of sense since it allowes thr two CBs to focus on the middle. Also I know Jaseem is a leader of some sort but he privovides nothing to the table. They need to play three guys in the middle to fix the openings. Mogahwi, Otayf, Faraj. At least sheri looked good yesterday so thats a positive sign. Dawsari was poor again. Sahlawi made a couple good plays. At this point its very clear why Sahlawhi plays, pizzi likesnto use him as somewhat of a false 9 to create opportunities for others.
So Is Alabed playing or not? Any timetable for his return? If he doesnt play the italy game there is no way he is playing. Shame because they need a playmaker.
Saudi 2-0 Greece Watch the match. Difficult to judge on the team because Greece didn't put up much of a contest, but here goes... The good news: The back line and defensive midfield looked more cohesive. I think this is pretty much the selection. I was impressed with Buraik. Salem had a good game, and Yahya also looked sharp. Mohammed Kannoo has good potential. Once he gets more of an understanding with his teammates I'd pick him over Taiseer. On the flip side, there's a distinct lack of cutting edge. The team struggles to make chances on goal. Sahlawi never posed any dange to the defence in the 75 minutes he played. Fahad replaced him, and he looked lacking in confidence and touch. Even then, he did try to go behind the defence and was nearly let in a couple of times. Al Abed was in the stands.
Ive been saying benching taiser is the best course of action. Mogahwi, Kanoo are both much better options at this point. Or they can simply just Play abed over taiser.
I think the problem with Tayseer is he plays different position with Ahli and NT & he needs time to adapt to this two positions.. I don't want Fahd to play striker for some time as the kid has grown playing as winger & let him play in that position. But one more positive output is , Pizzi now has all bunch of players he can choose from since Ahli is out of ACL so no more commitments. Next friendly against Italy will be good test since they have appointed Mancini as coach and he will be looking for kick off tenure on good note.
Turki al-Sheikh announced that he's personally accompanying the team for their preparation camp in Switzerland. So the players will be extra motivated to play well against Italy and Peru. Don't want to get on the wrong side of Pluto
The coming match against Italy will be very special, besides being an opponent who eagerly will be trying to recover from the upset of failing to qualify for the WC, this will be the first time in history we face Italy.
KSA preliminary squad for final preparation camp in Switzerland: 1. Yasser al-Messaileem 2. Abdullah al-Maeiyouf 3. Mohammad al-Owais 4. Assaf al-Qarni 5. Mansour al-Harbi 6. Yasser al-Shahrani 7. Mohammed al-Buraik 8. Saeed al-Muwallad 9. Motazz Hawsawi 10. Osama Hawsawi 11. Omar Hawsawi 12. Mohammed Jahfali 13. Ali al-Bulaihi 14. Abdullah al-Khaibary 15. Abdulmalik al-Khaybari 16. Abdullah Otaif 17. Tayseer al-Jassem 18. Hussein Megahwi 19. Salman al-Faraj 20. Nawwaf al-Abed 21. Mohammed Kannoo 22. Hattan Bahabri 23. Mohammed al-Kuwaikbi 24. Salem al-Dowsari 25. Fahad al-Muwallad 26. Yahya al-Shehri 27. Mouhannad Asiri 28. Mohammed al-Sahlawi No huge surprises, but still meh
Is abed going to play against italy? No reason for hil to be with the team if he has zero chance of making the world cup.
I see lot of options for playing behind the striker. Abed will play if he trains normally without any pain in Switzerland. But chances for him against Italy is slim. My Starting Eleven - Yasser Musaliem. Yasser Shahrani Omar Hawsawi Osama Hawsawi Burayk/ Saeed Muwallad / Mansour Harbi Abdullah Otayf Salman Faraj Salem Dawari Yahya Sehri Fahd Muwallad Sahlawi.
What pain is he in ?... He hasn't played for the club and country for so long now. I don't see Abed making to the FIFA World Cup 2018 since he is out of match practice.
It's too late for Nawwaf TBH. We're already nursing back three players back into match readiness from their extended leave in Spain. 4 is too many. I'd have Muhannad Asiri as the target man, or have Fahad up there. For the full backs, Buraik or Saeed (despite my dislike of the man, he's good) on the right, Mansour al-Harbi on the left. If Yasser must play (and you know he does), then better on the left, but never on the right.
He got surgery on his groin so obviously he will be nursing pain.. Rest assured he will be in the squad no matter what ..
I see lot of ex players and coaches saying they players however did not play in Spain but look fit. For Ex: Yahya has lost his weight which is making him lighter and run more.. What's your say on this ? Thankfully , we got many full backs and they are all good and has pace..I don't have any problem with any one playing.