Saudi Arabia’s World Cup Dream Wavers: Al-Akhdar Faces Criticism After Recent Qualifiers Performance

The results of the first Saudi Arabia football team changed after 3 rounds of the third stage of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup finals in America, Canada and Mexico.

Al-Akhdar opened their campaign with a disappointing draw with Indonesia in Jeddah, then beat China away from home in the second round, despite the sending off of Mohamed Kanno early, before they lost to their Japanese host, on Thursday night, in front of fans who had fully supported him in the “Radiant Jewel.”

The lack of consistency in the level and the results was accompanied by a lack of consistency in the composition of the players, as the Italian coach Roberto Mancini, the coach of the Saudi team, used 30 different players in his starting lines with which he started it’s the game. nine matches he has played with Al-Akhdar in the qualifiers so far.

The total number of changes he made to his team reached 38, which proves that Mancini is still looking for the most suitable combination, even if some of these changes were forced on him due to injuries, suspensions, and an attempt to rest players and get to know others.

Mancini is still finding the most suitable combination in the Saudi national team (Getty)

• In November 2023, after defeating Pakistan in the first match of the second round of qualifiers, Mancini made 4 changes to his starting line-up against Jordan in the second round.
• In March, Mancini made 6 changes to the lineup against Tajikistan, and against the latter in the return game, he made 5 changes to his starting lineup.
• In June, during the clash with Pakistan in the fifth round, he made 5 changes to his starting line-up, and then made 5 changes to his line-up against Jordan in the sixth and round finally, in the same window. In that match, Al-Akhdar suffered its only defeat in the second stage of the qualifiers, and qualified for the third stage with second place in its group.
• Last September, Mancini made 4 changes to his line-up against Indonesia, and the result of the draw in Jeddah saw him make 6 changes when he faced China in the second round. Mancini made 3 changes to the line-up with which he started the last game against Japan, in the third round, the most notable of which was the inclusion of Ahmed Al-Kassar as the starting goalkeeper replacing Mohammed Al-Owais, making Al-Kassar the 30th player Mancini has relied on in his starting line-up since qualifying began.

The Saudi national team suffered a new blow after losing to Japan with two unanswered goals last Thursday night at the “Radiant Jewel” stadium in the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.

The Saudi national team is facing widespread criticism due to the poor performance of the Al-Akhdar players in the match against Japan and the fact that they did not win any victory in the Kingdom in the decisive stage of the World Cup qualifiers.

The Saudi national team thus bitterly suffered their first defeat in these qualifiers, after a draw and a win respectively, making it difficult for their mission to reach the 2026 World Cup, directly from the group stage, as he fell to third place in the third group standing with 4 points.