JEDDAH, 26 March 2008 — Saudi Arabia take on the central Asian Uzbekistan team today in what many are billing the match of the superpowers of their group in the Asian World Cup qualifying tournament.
Both teams have started strongly with wins and the match in Uzbekistan might have a lot of say on who wins the group. The Green Falcons beat Singapore in their first match with two well-taken goals by Hilal’s Yasser Qahtani and Malik Al Muaz of Ahli.
The odds are in Kingdom’s favor as they have not lost a World Cup qualifier since 2001 and are determined to keep this impressive record.
If the Saudis qualify for the 2010 World Cup in south Africa they will have made it to their fifth in a row dating back to the famous campaign of 1994 when they reached the second round where they were knocked out by eventual third place Sweden.
Since 1994 things have not gone so well with embarrassing group exits. The worst was in 2002 when they did not score one goal and suffered the biggest World Cup defeat of all time to Germany 8-0.
In their head-to-head matches in the past, Saudi Arabia have three wins and one draw and Uzbekistan two wins. Their last match was in 2007 and Saudi came out on top 2-1.
Saudi Football Federation President Prince Sultan ibn Fahad and his deputy Prince Nawaf bin Faisal previewed the team’s last training session last Wednesday before they set off to the central Asian republic.
Saudi coach Helio dos Anjos complained of the condition of the pitch in Uzbekistan saying there is a high risk of injuries for his players. Saudi Arabia are expected to start in an attacking formation to get a win against their biggest obstacle in the group and also damage the Uzbeks morale with a big win. This match is a six pointer as Saudi can put distance between themselves and the rest of the group. The other match in the Group 4 is between Singapore and Lebanon who lost their first matches to Saudi and Uzbekistan respectively. Both teams will want to win after their disappointing starts.
