Saudi Arabia is the first Arab team to qualify for the World Cup in Russia

[Bilawal Bhutto]

I wonder that Arab country will be the first to qualify in the 2022 World Cup...

 

[jetray]

Saudi Arabia is the first Arab team to qualify for the World Cup in Russia

Qualification goal scorer Fahad al-Muwalad of Saudi Arabia fights for the ball with Yuto Nagatomo of Japan. (Reuters)

Staff writer, Al Arabiya English
Tuesday, 5 September 2017

Saudi Arabia has qualified to the world cup in Russia 2018 after beating Japan 1-0 in Jeddah.

Fahad al-Muwalad who came in as a substitute secured the win after scoring a screamer in to the top corner of the Japanese goal in the second half.

The goal came after intricate passing football allowed midfielder Nawaf al-Abed to slide through a sublime pass putting al-Muwalad in front of goal ahead of the backpeddling Japanese defenders.

Nawaf al-Abed celebrating after the win in Jeddah's King Abdullah Sports City. (Reuters)

Saudi Arabia’s coach, Dutch Bert van Marwijk, celebrated his side’s first world cup appearance since Germany 2006.

Iran and Japan have already secured places at Russia 2018 as winners of Groups A and B while South Korea secured the second position in Group A.

Saudi Arabia's win made them the first Arab team to qualify for the Russia 2018 World Cup with Syria yet to play Australia in the play off for the fifth Asian seat.

Egypt and Tunisia, who are playing in the African Qualifiers, are also close to securing spots in Russia after Egypt beat Uganda 1 - 0 and Tunisia Drew 2 - 2 with the Demcoratic Republic of Congo.

Syria clinched the third spot in Group A on Tuesday when Omar Al Soma’s late goal earned Ayman Hakeem’s side a dramatic draw with Iran that pushed Uzbekistan out of the playoff positions.

Syria players celebrating after the dramatic draw with Iran at the Azadi Stadium. (AFP)


Syria took the lead in Tehran and became the first team to score against Iran in 13 qualification matches when Tamer Haj Mohamed netted from close range after Al Soma’s free kick had been fumbled by Iranian goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand.

A double from Sardar Azmoun looked to have given Iran all three points until Al Soma - playing only his second match for Syria since his return from a self-imposed exile - slid the ball through Beiranvand’s legs to level deep into stoppage time.

The draw meant Syria finished level on 13 points with Uzbekistan but took third place on goal difference.

(Reuters)

Last Update: Wednesday, 6 September 2017 KSA 05:11 - GMT 02:11

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/sp...a-can-secure-a-World-Cup-berth-in-Russia.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Abdullah_Sports_City

The King Abdullah Sports City is a world class stadium and the local Jeddawi home crowd (almost 70.000 people) create one of the best atmospheres in the AFC.



Wonderful to read the brotherly comments from across the Arab world after yesterday's game and qualification. Especially our Iraqi brothers and sisters were active in congratulating KSA.

Hopefully our Egyptian, Syrian, Tunisian and Moroccan brothers will be next so that we can have 5 Arab teams in Russia next year.

Congrats

 

[mahatir]

Saudis took the risk of building a completely new young team 10 years ago and now its paying off .

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Congrats KSA, this world cup will be fun watching with KSA
Algeria didnt qualify? they played so well last time gave germany a scare

Thanks.

Yes, our Algerian brothers did great in 2014. However since they have been doing rather poorly. They only reached the quarter-finals in 2015 in the Africa Cup of Nations (main African football tournament for national football teams) and the group stages this year (2017).

They did also not qualify for next year's World Cup in Russia, sadly, having been eliminated already with 2 games left to play.

You can check their results in this link below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algeria_national_football_team

Their World Cup 2018 qualification group:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_–_CAF_Third_Round#Group_B

Congrats

Thanks.

Saudis took the risk of building a completely new young team 10 years ago and now its paying off .

Yes, it did eventually. However the past few years, until recently (1-2 years) were quite disappointing knowing that KSA is one of the most successful Asian teams historically if not the most successful along with South Korea and Japan. To this date we have been in more Asian Cup finals (main Asian football tournament for international football teams) than any other nation other than South Korea (6 as well) by appearing in a record 6 finals, wining 3 of them. Only Japan has won more Asian Cup titles (4).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFC_Asian_Cup

Also we are one of the few Asian/African nations to have reached the Round of 16 in a World Cup which was done in 1994.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_FIFA_World_Cup

Also some of our youth teams are doing rather well.

Our U-19 team narrowly lost against Uruguay in the Round of 16 earlier this year during the U-19 World Cup. The same Uruguay that lost on penalties in the semifinal to one of the finalists (Venezuela).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_FIFA_U-20_World_Cup

Last year our U-19 team narrowly lost the Asian Cup final against Japan on penalties.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_AFC_U-19_Championship

It's very hard for the average Asian and African team to compete with European heavyweights (Germany, Italy, France, Spain, England, Holland etc.) and South African ones (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay etc.) to just name a few. So obviously I don't expect miracles but it would be a wonderful thing if we could reach the Round 16 again. This depends on what kind of group we will have. If we will have to play against the likes of Brazil, Belgium and Costa Rica for instance, it would be very difficult to advance from the group as only 2 out of 4 teams are able to do that.

 

[Sucha Kuggu]

Saudi Arabia is the first Arab team to qualify for the World Cup in Russia

Qualification goal scorer Fahad al-Muwalad of Saudi Arabia fights for the ball with Yuto Nagatomo of Japan. (Reuters)

Staff writer, Al Arabiya English
Tuesday, 5 September 2017

Saudi Arabia has qualified to the world cup in Russia 2018 after beating Japan 1-0 in Jeddah.

Fahad al-Muwalad who came in as a substitute secured the win after scoring a screamer in to the top corner of the Japanese goal in the second half.

The goal came after intricate passing football allowed midfielder Nawaf al-Abed to slide through a sublime pass putting al-Muwalad in front of goal ahead of the backpeddling Japanese defenders.

Nawaf al-Abed celebrating after the win in Jeddah's King Abdullah Sports City. (Reuters)

Saudi Arabia’s coach, Dutch Bert van Marwijk, celebrated his side’s first world cup appearance since Germany 2006.

Iran and Japan have already secured places at Russia 2018 as winners of Groups A and B while South Korea secured the second position in Group A.

Saudi Arabia's win made them the first Arab team to qualify for the Russia 2018 World Cup with Syria yet to play Australia in the play off for the fifth Asian seat.

Egypt and Tunisia, who are playing in the African Qualifiers, are also close to securing spots in Russia after Egypt beat Uganda 1 - 0 and Tunisia Drew 2 - 2 with the Demcoratic Republic of Congo.

Syria clinched the third spot in Group A on Tuesday when Omar Al Soma’s late goal earned Ayman Hakeem’s side a dramatic draw with Iran that pushed Uzbekistan out of the playoff positions.

Syria players celebrating after the dramatic draw with Iran at the Azadi Stadium. (AFP)


Syria took the lead in Tehran and became the first team to score against Iran in 13 qualification matches when Tamer Haj Mohamed netted from close range after Al Soma’s free kick had been fumbled by Iranian goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand.

A double from Sardar Azmoun looked to have given Iran all three points until Al Soma - playing only his second match for Syria since his return from a self-imposed exile - slid the ball through Beiranvand’s legs to level deep into stoppage time.

The draw meant Syria finished level on 13 points with Uzbekistan but took third place on goal difference.

(Reuters)

Last Update: Wednesday, 6 September 2017 KSA 05:11 - GMT 02:11

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/sp...a-can-secure-a-World-Cup-berth-in-Russia.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Abdullah_Sports_City

The King Abdullah Sports City is a world class stadium and the local Jeddawi home crowd (almost 70.000 people) create one of the best atmospheres in the AFC.



Wonderful to read the brotherly comments from across the Arab world after yesterday's game and qualification. Especially our Iraqi brothers and sisters were active in congratulating KSA.

Hopefully our Egyptian, Syrian, Tunisian and Moroccan brothers will be next so that we can have 5 Arab teams in Russia next year.

Congrats, Dont limit your self to football only. There is a lot of talent.

 

[Gomig-21]

Mabrouk ya Saudiya. Edenna Zaghrouta ya Om Ahmad!

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Mabrouk ya Saudiya. Edenna Zaghrouta ya Hamdiya!

ههههههههههههههه

 

[lastofthepatriots]

I hate Arabs. They deserve nothing.

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Congrats, Dont limit your self to football only. There is a lot of talent.

True.

Aside from traditional pursuits such as horse racing, falconry, hunting, sword fencing etc. other somewhat popular sports are water sports (scuba diving, windsurfing, sailing), athletics, basketball, handball, motor sports, martial arts etc.

For instance (as an example) during the Asian Games in China in 2010, we won 13 medals, 5 of them were gold medals. Placing us in the top 13. Top 10 if not for other nations "adopting foreigners" by giving them citizenship in order for them to compete for their new countries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Asian_Games_medal_table

In any case football is by far the most popular sport. There is football and then there is everything else.

Anyway I am hopeful that our sports sector will become stronger in the future as also stated in the Saudi Vision 2030. We are doing OK already given the social circumstances, population size and the fact that football has such a strong position (popularity) among sports.

For instance person all I would like to see more focus on traditional Arabian sports such as wrestling and martial arts. Weightlifting etc. would not be bad too. I am personally not much interested in such sports but I see a potential but it is all about developing a culture and interest for such sports like for instance Iran and Turkey have when it comes to wrestling and weightlifting.

That's the most essential thing. I mean it's not like football became extremely popular in KSA and the Arab world by a coincidence or without a "football culture" developing on its own contrary to for instance bullfighting.

Motor sports is another thing that I would like to see. There are many talented drivers in KSA (drifting etc.) and their talents are wasted. Just 1 example.

Also we need women to be much more involved and luckily the last moronic restrictions have been removed under MBS as I wrote about earlier.

But of course the most important thing IMO is for people to have fun and for more ordinary people to pursue sports as this is often very healthy. Winning is just a bonus.

I hate Arabs. They deserve nothing.

But most of us like Pakistan a lot actually contrary to what some users here believe or think.

 

[lastofthepatriots]

Just joking bro. I don't hate anyone. Personally, I find Arabs to be nice people. Only thing I found a little weird was when my Saudi friend told me I don't look like a Pakistani. Like he expected to me look dark skinned and bad body frame. I find Saudis to have really good sense of humor. Actually, they have good sense of humor when they make jokes, but they have a hard time taking jokes. LOL

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Just joking bro. I don't hate anyone. Personally, I find Arabs to be nice people. Only thing I found a little weird was when my Saudi friend told me I don't look like a Pakistani. Like he expected to me look dark skinned and bad body frame. I find Saudis to have really good sense of humor. Actually, they have good sense of humor when they make jokes, but they have a hard time taking jokes. LOL

Don't get yourself banned next time bro.

Al-Hilal has reached this years AFC Champions League seminal and they can reach their 6th AFC Champions League final (an improvement of their record - they already have the record number of final appearances with 5 final appearances in total) and win their 3rd Champions League title (which would be a joint record with a South Korean team called Pohang Steelers).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_AFC_Champions_League

Al-Hilal is the favorite to reach the final.

See list of records and statistics:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFC_Champions_League#Performances

We could have had 2 Saudi Arabian semifinalists from the Western conference (as many as you can have) if not for the weak Al-Ahli who are doing bad in the league too. Unbelievable that they could lose to some weak team. Anyway I never liked them being an Al-Ittihad fan. Hopefully Al-Hilal will make up for this mistake.

BTW it will be difficult to defeat Shanghai SIPG as they have signed Brazilian stars that once played in top European teams such as Hulk, Oscar etc. for a lot of money and given them absurd wages.

As long as Al-Hilal does not lose against a team of convicts due to a ridiculous Japanese referee after being denied 4-5 obvious penalties and wasting 100 chances,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_AFC_Champions_League_Final

I can live with a possible defeat in the final should Al-Hilal reach the final, which I believe fully that they will.

 

[Hossiiee]

Congratulations Saudi Arabia, nice victory against Japan, well deserved!

I hope Morocco will qualify as well.. It would be a shame to not qualify with so much talent.. Even tho the qualifying group is really hard. Its still retarded that only 5 countries from Africa can qualify.

 

[SubWater]

Its still retarded that only 5 countries from Africa can qualify.

Your situation in Africa is better than Asia.
In Asia we have just 4.5 place in world cup.
shame on FIFA. They dedicate a lot of quota to European and Americans.

best wish for Morocco and congrats to Saudi

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Bert van Marwijk has left us as a manager. This is a big loss as he did very well. Yet again we are changing managers constantly. No wonder that there has been no stability in recent years. His replacement is Edgardo Bauza (not long ago the manager of Argentina and most recently the manager of UAE) who once trained Al-Nassr in 2009.

Apparently Marwijk has/had an offer from the Dutch National football team (his homeland) so understandable but a shame as I would have liked to see him train KSA during the World Cup. I think that we would do rather well but now we will never know unless he somehow returns before the World Cup next year which I doubt.

So the chaos continues.

Congratulations Saudi Arabia, nice victory against Japan, well deserved!

I hope Morocco will qualify as well.. It would be a shame to not qualify with so much talent.. Even tho the qualifying group is really hard. Its still retarded that only 5 countries from Africa can qualify.

Thank you brother.

I think that most (if not all Arabs - maybe excluding a few butthurt Algerians) want Morocco to qualify!

If you ask me the level of football is greater in Africa and it is more difficult to qualify for a World Cup but things are improving in Asia.

Your situation in Africa is better than Asia.
In Asia we have just 4.5 place in world cup.
shame on FIFA. They dedicate a lot of quota to European and Americans.

best wish for Morocco and congrats to Saudi

Thanks.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Congrats to Saudia could not watch the game live but I watched extended 30 minute highlight

The Dutch Coaching staff and and coach are 90% of reason why the Saudi Team qualified he maintained a particular strategy for playing and selected same players over and over again making only 1 player change in whole qualifiying campaign.

The team work was great there was no Nasar /Hilal Rivalry and the players played for country

Only sad part in qualification was that Saudi federation changed the coach after such a amazing achivement after so long saying , they could not agree for extension with dutch coach as he wants to live in Holland with his family and only come to Saudia 2 weeks before competetive games in fifa schedule

Since 2000 Saudia have had serious problems playing against Teams like Japan and Australia. Specially with Japan it has become a Psychological problem for Saudia Fans

However with the Dutch coach Saudi team Tactically beat Japanese and qualified 100% deservingly

The decision to change the coach was SAD as I read the dutch news paper and Dutch coach claimed he is no sure why the Saudia Federation played politics with him and changed him after he achieved the promised goals. Dutch coach stated in Holland news paper that the Federation fired some of his Junior staff members and tried to get rid of him which was not acceptable to him as he worked hard with his staff to make qualification poossible. He also mentioned that the Saudi team players individually called and showed their displeasure that he was not allowed to continue in final phase i.e taking the team to World cup


Saudi Federation have appointed a Local Legend as Technical Director (Majid Abdulla) to look after the preparation for the Finals , and they have opted for a coach who has comitted to live in Saudia and attend every Local League game in order to unearth talented player from lower rank teams.

Dutch coach specialized in creating a special friendship with players and helped motivate underachiving players

It was no suprise that players who failed many times before were able to succeed under his watch

The dutch coach has a very Elaborative support team
including Dutch Defender Mark Van Bommel the group helped turn Saudi Defence into a respectable fortress

For avid watchers of Asian Footall the quality of Coaching Saudi team recieved was Top quality , the Dutch coach used similar style of coaching to guide under achiving Holland to 2010 finals vs Spain

Every single player was always acompanied by a coach to explain the tactic and what he needs them to and unfortunately the Saudi Federation did what they always do
POLITICS after the qualification was done

The Last time Saudis backstabbed the coaching staff was in 2006 and replaced Argentine coach with Local Guy and Saudia Lost 8-0 to Germany

100% Genius coach and his staff are Real Madrid quality
Back in 2010 when he took a sorry state of player who could not agree to play with each other to final of world cup. An overachivement !! for that team

**
You can hear the truth what the coach thinks on Dutch newpapers he stated clearly I don't know why I was let go , they (the federation) fired my support staff member and I was not feeling well with them, as my support coaches as they helped me in my campaign and then suddenly I find on TV they selected a argentina coach to replace me .... all in Dutch news paper , while the Saudi News papers tell the story that the coach was not interested in extension

The Dutch coach's strategy was to pick his players from Ellite teams in Saudia who were top 5 in nation


**Even the Saudi trainers who were part of Dutch coach resigned or were fired end of completing achivement to take team to world cup

It is NOT NORMAL for any team to fire their coach after he qualifies the team to world cup only Saudis do this strange decisions

• Japan comparitively has only had 8 coaches in 25 years

• While Saudia has changed coach 37 times since 1984

While I am quite happy that Saudia qualified however I wanted them to be coached by Same guy in final so he can develop a strategy for World cup

Very dishonest to let go of coaches who make you qualify for Finals