Is it me or does it seem like North Korea are losing their momentum? They clearly didnt play as good today as the last three games. I think they peaked in their loss to south Korea, we can surely defeat them if they remain on the same par. But more importantly, lets pay attention to South Korea against Emarat, hopefully the match will be a physically exerting one with alot of players cautioned, so that they wont be fully 100% when we travel there on Wednesday. A win away is possible, if we beat them thats it, we're 99% through. Best scenario would be South Korea winning in Emarat, then losing to us, and then panicking and defeating Iran. We will guarantee second place by tieing North Korea then.
Korea has beat UAE 2-0. One of their players is red carded and they've guranteed qaulification so we might face their B team as well the fact they're coming in exhausted.
OK strategically how should we approach that game? Looks like we're gonna use the same line up as in China
He's probably going to use the same line-up against China: Mohammmad Nami = HUGE weakness (let's hope the Koreans haven't discovered it already) ... he's worth a South Korean goal right there. I would use Shuhail, but it seems Pesseiro doesn't like him. Hussein Abdelghani at CM ... he's good but can he keep up with the Korean's pressing game at his age? I would prefer Ahmad Otaif. Abdoh Otaif ... never been a fan of this player. Anything he can do, Mohammad Noor can do better. I would replace him with Abdulrahman Al-Qahtani who can trouble the Koreans with his pace. Yasser Al-Qahtani ... this guy is SEVERELY out of form, like he doesn't want to play football anymore. It's true that he scored against China, but he's been blowing hot and cold like it's nobody's business recently. I would use Hazzazi. Actually we can't afford NOT to take advantage Hazzazi's strength in the air. Nasser Al-Shamrani ... his NT performances are improving, and he has the advantage of pace that our other strikers mostly lack. I would actually go for Al-Saaran ahead of him because the guy is fresh and has a very hungry attitude (much like Hazzazi). Plus he has pace and can cut inside from the flanks. This is who I would choose: Walid Shuhail or Hassan Muath Hawsawi Nayef El-Ghadhi (or maybe Majed Al-Marshedi for the sake of "insijam") Abdullah Al-Zori Ahmad Otaif Khalid Aziz Mohammad Noor Abdulrahman Al-Qahtani Nayef Hazzazi Abdulaziz Al-Saaran Shamrani, Yasser, Abdoh Otaif, Taysir Al-Jassim, and Hussein Abdelghani would all be strong options from the bench.
I would play Hussein Abdul Ghani instead of Khaled Aziz. He's much more creative and Ahmed Otaif can hang back and cover him. Plus, he's the only decent FK taker we have ATM.
Mine would be Hussein instead of Khaled Aziz as well as Al Shamrani starting instead of Saran. (edit..BPhoenix beat me to it)
The person who got red carded was Kim Jung-woo. He's a good experienced player but our midfield will not suffer because of his red card. We will probably play Cho-Won-Hee (Defensive Midfielder) who plays for Wigan Athletic in the PL. To be honest, we really don't have a B team. We have like 2 good replacements for Defenders and 2 good replacement for Midfielders. All our players love to play in S. Korea because literally the WHOLE country will be watching them on national television. They want impress the country. Our weakness is our Foward. We lack finishing. Our key players are Park Chu Young and Park Ji Sung. If these players get injured it will be a huge loss for us. We have 2 promising Fowards but they are not experienced so we only have 1 good foward who is Park Chu Young. I think you guys have a good chance of beating us because of jet lag and we recently played a game. But its a home game for us so... I think the results will be a draw 1-1 . You guys are probably going to beat North Korea and qualify in 2nd position Good Luck!
No way Ahmad Otaif can play that role. Too lightweight. You can either use A. Otaif or Abdelghani, but not both together against a strong pressing team like Korea. I hate Khalid Aziz but you need someone like him to add some steel to the midfield.
I cant wait to see this game. Hoping for a Saudi win and hopefully no red cards to Saudi like last time.
I really wonder, Peseiro impressed me in his understanding of both UAE and Iran...keep in mind we came back from behind against both. So his tactical astuteness is a given. What he hasnt been tested on yet is anticipating a team's play from the get go...instead of just reacting to it and then bringing in the necessary tactical changes/subs in the 2nd half to 'adapt' to them. He really has to study these Koreans, I know its so hard, the players look alike and the names are similar, but he's a coach and we expect him to atleast be clinical and savvy enough to identify their weaknesses.
Haha! But seriously, we have to impose our game plan on them, I really hope we come up on top the first half...because by the second half, the jet lag and exhaustion would have crept up on them, and thats when we can be really dangerous. Our substitutions in this game would be the most important the whole qualification round.
Lighten up dude. I'm pretty sure our players all look and sound the same to the Koreans as well. (btw I can't tell you how many times I've heard Americans tell me in person that us Arabs all "looked alike" to them. I didn't take offense because, to be honest, when I first arrived in the US, I had trouble telling white college guys apart myself)
That's where players like Shamrani, Saaran, and A. Qahtani can come in handy. Maybe Hassan Muath as well.
Please keep your honest comment to yourself. Lately, I'm seeing all kinds of stupid comments from the Saudi posters. Do you want me to retaliate and tell you what the rest of the world stereotype your people? - No, I won't, as that will just create endless flame war.
I understand it was a bit crass (and kind of nonsensical, sorry Laith ), but it didn't involve any stereotyping. I mean he didn't say "all Koreans are ugly" or something. It's true that it's often hard to remember names (or faces) from a culture with which you have little contact, and I'm pretty sure there's a scientific basis for it because I've experienced it myself with all kinds of ethnicities, and you probably experience it with Arabs. Regarding names, I find Korean names especially hard to get down for some reason. I guess it's the complex structure which I never took the effort to learn about, but mainly it's because we get more exposure to European languages and names from childhood, unlike East Asian names. If I knew a little bit more about the Korean language or how these names are formed I would probably remember them better. What does this have to do with football? Probably, nothing (and I'm pretty sure Pisseiro took the time to learn about all the Korean players). Just outting my two cents worth.
No, I made a casual observation... my intention was not to start a flame war, pffft could we just move on and discuss the match at hand?
By the way woorjim, isn't this one of your comments: And look at what this Korean member said about a picture of our players after just arriving in Korea: Racism and homophobia? That's no way to treat your guests. Anyway, back to the match. I made a mistake earlier. Pisseiro didn't use Nami against China (thank God!). He indeed made "the right choice" by picking Abdullah Shuhail. This is the strongest squad we've had since the start of the qualifiers. Let's hope they don't choke.
It's gonna be a hard match! but we can win it if the players want to. and for Nami, I'd like to see him out side the NT. Al Raheeb & Shuhail are waaaaaaaaay better than him!