“We participate to exceed expectations. In every edition of the World Cup there are many surprises and we hope to make one.” The intuition of Saudi-French manager, Herve Renard, was in place as his side blew off one of the biggest upsets in World Cup finals history, adding a historic defeat to Argentina, contenders on Tuesday the World Cup in Qatar with its star, Lionel Messi.
Saudi Arabia played the match of their life against the Latin American giants (2-1) and came away with a victory that went around the world.
Renard admitted his team was lucky, especially in the first half when they went one goal behind 10 minutes after a successfully paid penalty kick by Lionel Messi, especially as the referee ruled out three goals for the Argentina for offside. according to what was stated in a report by “Agence France Presse”.
“All the stars were smiling at us in the sky,” said Ronard after the game, “this is sport. You can play this game ten times and only win in one game. We deserved to win.”
“We were hurt in the first half and didn’t press as much as we should have,” added the coach, who relies on team play, before his side turned things around in the second half and scored two goals to emerge with an historic victory.
Crazy boss
But Ronar, 54, heard his players motivating words between the two halves that had the effect of magic on their performance, so they were another team, and every one of its members shone, from goalkeeper Muhammad Al Owais , who was chosen as the man of the match, to Salem Al Dosari, who scored an even better goal and became the second Saudi to score at two different World Cups after Sami Al-Jaber, according to AFP.
Saudi defender Abd al-Ilah al-Maliki summed up what happened during the break by saying: “We have a crazy coach who motivated us between the two halves and said words to us that made us want to eat grass impulsively”.
Ronard’s achievement is no less than two more successes in his career, epitomized by guiding Zambia to their first Africa Cup of Nations title in 2012, and repeated it with Ivory Coast three years later, becoming the first coach to lead two different teams to the continental title.
And he received the formation of the Saudi national team in July 2019 after an experience leading the Moroccan coaching staff and participation in the World Cup in Russia, in which he was eliminated in the first round, but he made good performances, especially in particular his link with Spain.
Technical stability
Under his supervision, Al-Akhdar witnessed technical stability during these years, leading his group in the qualifying rounds for the Qatar World Cup, ahead of Japan and Australia.
He praised the facilities provided by the Saudi Football Federation and the Sports Minister, as well as the words of the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, during a visit by the national team a few days before the start of the World Cup, and said in this regard: “He told us that there is no pressure imposed on the players, and that we just have to show a good picture of Saudi football.” “And I think it’s a smart move. It’s a perfect and realistic communication.”
To prepare his players for the football wedding, he has been in training camp for the past six weeks, unlike most other teams, especially the big ones, after their players joined them just 10 days before the start of the Cup of the world.
“Participation without ambition means nothing,” he told FIFA’s official website, just days before the start of the tournament.
He added: “We are not attending for the sake of strolling through Doha but rather to present our best level and make the Saudis proud of us in the stadium and in Saudi Arabia. They came here in large numbers and we have no choice but to please them.” ”, according to AFP.
During the match, the player, Yasser Al-Shahrani suffered a serious injury in the last minutes of Saudi Arabia’s match against Argentina, after a collision with Al-Owais, to leave the stadium, and Muhammad Al-Buraik has participated in his place in the 98th minute of the match.
well deserved, GK got The Saudi national team, Muhammad Al Owais, won the best player award in the match between Saudi Arabia and Argentina, which ended with a resounding 2-1 victory for the Arab team on Tuesday.
Saudi goalkeeper Al Hilal presented a strong game, managing to block many dangerous chances for Argentina national team stars, Messi, Di Maria and Martinez, and only allowed one goal to score his goal, which came in the first minute from a penalty kick.
And according to reports by “Reuters”, Al Owais, 31, saved his goal from several dangerous chances, to prove the validity of his coach Hervé Renard’s decision to rely on him.
The Saudi national team pulled off one of the biggest surprises in World Cup history on Tuesday, beating Argentina 2-1.
Agence France-Presse in a previous report shed light on You are big surprises It took place in the history of the World Cup, which began in 1930, and Saudi Arabia’s victory was among them.
