7 points taken from 9 available so far from 3 home games. Saudi should aim to take at least 10 points from away games i.e., out of remaining 12 points available of away games.
Fahad goal was beast which turned out to be turning point. Mansour Harbi is weak link in the team on his position. We can constantly see him out of his position wandering on the second quater in field. Only thing I see why Fahd is not in starting XI , is coach might want to use him as super sub, his pace can be tormenting for defenders who have already played 70 minutes of football and a fast player is introduced to get behind them easily makes sense..
who is the replacement for Al Harbi, also why Hassan Moaz cannot control his passes as he always shoots wayward instread of crossing correctly in the 12 yard box.
Realistically speaking, Saudi can salvage 1-2 points in their away matches against Japan & Australia but against the others (Iraq, Thailand, and UAE) I am pretty confident of Saudi getting full points in their away matches against them, provided that your guys don't slack off as usual whenever they feel comfortable. And to hell with your media for always making your players feel so (التطبيل و النفخ).
Congrats! This team reminds me a bit of the '94 team. Nothing really special. Good defensive organization, cautious football, smart attacking, and a cunning coach. And of course the return of the fighting spirit.
Hassan Muaz is better making runs inroad but he is junk when he tries to be Roberto Carlos. Some time you can score from that distance may be club matches, but not all the times. Yasser Shahrani , Abdullah Zori, Adnan Fallatah can be good replacement
I believe go for a win in Japan since you have nothing to lose as every one expects KSA to lose against Japan in Japan. Point will not help much since it will only add pressure on KSA to win against Japan in Riyadh or Australia in Australia. Better aim for a win and see what happens.
Well well well. I for one didn't see that coming, 10 points and leading this deadly group? It's great start, but there is still a long (and harder) way to go. I really hope the players realize this. There are a couple of things I'd like to see or wonder how it'll change the shape of the team, like Sahlawi's return to start as a CF, Yasser Shahrani as LB, maybe starting Fahad Almowallad or even a less-talented but more hard-working player like Megahwi in Yehya's place to give the most dangerous player Nawaf the freedom to be more useful in attack, but the coach stuck with the same choices in all the games and it worked so far so I guess he will do the same thing in the next games, but a lot can change in a month and players get injured so we'll see what happens, but for now let's just enjoy Fahad's amazing moment:
Fahd is too young now. N from my side its too early for him to play full 90 minutes game for NT. Give and develop him one more year , he can be most lethal player NT can have . BTW - Who else thinks other than me , NT matches should be shifted to Jeddah more often than Riyadh or Dammam?
I agree on both points. Yes Fahad is lethal weapon as a sub so it's better to keep using him that way, but I'd rather see the NT start the games better than we've seen so far. Most of of the remaining games will be played away from home so we can't expect to keep having these 0-0s in first half and do the business in 2nd one successfully. As for the stadium, both Jeddah and Dammam are better than Riyadh IMO. Dammam's stadium has a better turf, but Jeddah's is aesthetically pleasing and creates better atmosphere, so it should be in Jeddah IMO but they NEED to fix that turf problem, it's ridiculous.
I don't think he's too young. He might be 21, but he's experienced. He lead the Saudi attack in the U20 world cup and scored when he was 16, and has been playing senior football ever since. I think he has the ability and the mentality. I really think he needs to start
Following is an Observation on Japanese Team thus far: Japanese closes down the opposing player with the ball after the centre-half in Japanese field (i.e., come near to the opposing player) to minimize the space for free run or pass Japanese Crosses in angle from the edge of the box in the far 6 yard box i.e. if you are on the right side at the edge corner of the D outside then you will cross towards left side within the 6 yards, and vise-versa. Japanese defense Cover the shooting option of opposing players and defend outside the D The attacking player (from centre) always passes either to right or left where the Japanese player had already made a run which is unmarked by the opposing defender The main defending starts as soon as the opposing team crosses the centre half, and then Japan looks to burst with pace from centre where the wingers run much faster to get the pass and then again cross the ball back in the 6 yard box for headed goal opportunity, while there's always a player or 2 before the D to shoot the ball towards goal in case the ball comes there or being crossed there instead of being crossed in the 6 yard box. Japanese Goal Keeper is venerable on shooting, while Japanese Right Back is weak connection in terms of pace when compared to Left Back.
Any feedback on above observation ?... Also, Saudi National Team having tough times now since 3 of the players are injured after this week's round of matches with 2 players out for 1 month and 6 months, respectively. Goal Keeper Yasser Al Musailem is out for 1 month due to his injury while Jibreen is out for 6 months due to his injury. Naif Hazzazi is also injured. Question is: Who will replace in form Mussailem ?... Waleed Abdullah is past his peak and don't have required reflexes to play against Japan. What other goal keeping option are there now ?... I feel Al Ruwais is overrated.
Waleed is better option as he has big games experience. Jibreen injury is not of worry since we have players to replace him. Good that Hazazi is injured.. Other better options can be Fawaz Al Qarni and Ofcourse Abdullah Maiyof for obvious reasons.
But he conceded 5 goals against Japan when Saudi last played Japan in AC2011, and he simply did not had any reflexes for saves in that match... If he plays then I am afraid you can kiss 3 or 1 point(s) against Japan in Japan bye bye...
The injuries aren't that worrying because: - Although Almusaileim was a key player in victory vs. Iraq, he was terrible and cost the team vs. Australia, and generally he isn't very reliable, like every other GK in the country. [emoji16]Assaf Alqarni will be my first choice, but I think it'll be Waleed Abdullah who gets the call. -I like Aljibreen, but he didn't play with the NT so far and I don't think he would if he was available in the next games, so Alkhaibari is expected to keep his starting spot. -Sahlawi is back and Alshamrani is getting back to playing and scoring with Hilal so Hazzazi's absence should be covered.
Japanese goal keeper is shorter in height and he is pretty much beatable on foul kick / free-kick, and direct shots at goal from out side the box. Also, Al Rowaili and Al Buraik are foul kick specialists in the team after whom, we have Shehri and Abid. So, Saudi should go for all out attack in this game. Also, Faraj to be replaced with either Rowaili or any other player since he gives too many opportunities to opposing team in his own half which is dangerous. Saudi should play with 2 forwards (Sahlawi and Shamrani) against Japan. Back should be supported by Buraik and Shehri.
After seeing all the matches today, I believe that Hilal Goal Keeper "Abdullah Al Maiyuf" is the best goal keeper available to play at the national team. Also, Shabab's player "Abdul Wahab" is a wonderful talent and he got pace just like Fahad Al Muwallad and he's also only 23 years of age so Sami can really work on him to make him a wonderful player... Both Maiyuf and Wahab are wonderful talent.
A long time passed since the NT played with 2 strikers, so I don't they will start doing that, vs. Japan nonetheless.[emoji16] However I'd like to see that in Iraq or Thailand game. Both Alfaraj and Alruwaili are good choices for CM, but I'll go with Salman since he is in-form in the recent weeks and started to play more minutes with his club than before. Almayouf is like 2007's Almusaileim, he can pick up some amazing saves but sometimes his timing for crosses is very poor, so as I said all GKs are just about the same level now, Alowais was good last season but he is bench player now, so I'll probably go with Assaf as #1 and either Almayouf or Alowais as #2.
Playing 2 strikers is work of South American coaches and not European IMO. You can remember how Helios and Calderon played 2 strikers and KSA were running smooth all over the teams. But for now I dont prefer shuffling the pack. If at all any one injured you got replace. For me Shamrani should start as he is strong enough to muscle Japanese players. Lastly, NT gets a long gap after match against Japan with next game only to play late March'17. This time coach can use his bench strength to judge players . Players who need chance IMO - Jamal Bagandouh Abdul Wahab Jaffer Abdul Majeed Ruwaili Abdul Rahman Ghamdi Mohamed Qassem Mohamed Buraik Ali Awagi Hussain Mqhawi Salman Moasher Mustafa Bassas Ali Zubaidi Hazza Al Hazza Abdullah Owais
Agreed, but who Saudi is likely to play for preparation?... I suppose it should not be such big teams but competitive team should do. Play Philipines or North Korea or Oman or Syria for that matter. Play Bosnia and Bolivia. Should be good test for all other players.
As per www.arriyadiyah.com/node/1055461/%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B6%D8%A9-%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9/%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%AF-10-%D8%A3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85-%E2%80%9C%D9%83%D8%A7%D8%B3%E2%80%9D-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%AF%D8%AF-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%AE%D8%B6%D8%B1-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%82, we will know the fate of Saudi's home game against Iraq if it will be played in Jeddah or else where. I hope it will remain in Jeddah since it was a Problem of playing in Iraq and Iran due to Security and Diplomatic rift, respectively. The reason for remaining in KSA is that it will attract a mass crowd and support which is fun in any game. If both teams play in external soil then there's not that much support in the stadium for home teams since it remains a balanced number of spectators in stadium.
This game should be played at a neutral venue as that was the decision of FIFA. Saudi Arabia refused to travel to Teheran, and the match wasn't forfeited (which should have happened in that case), therefore both games are at a neutral venue.