It was on June 8, 2005, at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh. With more than 75,000 cheering Saudi fans, Saudi Arabia qualified for World Cup 2006 after defeating Uzbekistan 3-0.
That win signal a unique achievement by Saudi Arabia, which is to qualify for the fourth straight time to the World Cup. They had earlier qualified for the 1994 event in USA, 1998 in France and 2002 in South Korea and Japan. With a good qualifying reputation, the three times Asian champion in 1984, 1988 and 1996, hopes to erase the poor image it displayed during the previous World Cup in 2002. Saudi Arabia suffered the most embarrassing defeat against Germany in the opening match 8-0.
That performance, however, was in stark contrast with the first Saudi World Cup appearance in USA, 1994, when Saudi Arabia played a tough match against Holland and lost 2-1, but later secured two important wins against Morocco 2-1 and Belgium 1-0 to qualify for the second round. Saudi coach Gabriel Calderon led the Saudi national team to the fourth qualification to World Cup.
Saudi Arabia recently introduced new blood to the Saudi national team including Hilal’s top strikers Yasir Al-Qahtani and Muhammad Al-Anbar, and Ahmad Al-Suwaileh. Alaa Al-Kuwaikbi of Al Wehda and Essa Al-Muhayyani will be making their first national team appearance in this coming World Cup. Hamad Al-Muntashri, the best player in Asia, will also participate for the first time in the World Cup.
Saudi Arabia lost two of the preparation matches against Portugal 3-0, Poland 2-1 and tied the third against Iraq 2-2. Saudi Arabia will play seven friendly matches before the World Cup, first against Egypt on April 19, Belgium on May 11, South Africa on May 16, Mexico on May 20, Czech Republic on May 26 and Turkey on May 31.
