RIYADH: Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro said helping the Kingdom qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa is his primordial goal while in charge of the Saudi national team.
“We will use whatever games are left in the group to collect enough points to qualify,” Peseiro told reporters in his first press conference in Riyadh.
“We must think of the future and be proud of the past. We have unique players with the capabilities to carry the national team in the second round of the Asian final qualifying event. We must play with confidence and no fear. We must not fear what is coming up. I have great confidence in the 35 players I chose out of 68,” he said.
Peseiro refused to dwell on the negative performance of the Saudi team in the first round of the Asian qualifiers but said obviously there were weaknesses. He said it is better to fix it instead of talk about it in the media.
He pointed out the short training camp that ended on Sunday gave him the opportunity to feel the pulse of the players so to speak.
“I monitored the players and their behavior throughout the training period. I wanted to instill team spirit and teach the players the importance of discipline. I noticed that players have the strong will to succeed. I told the players that it is not impossible and the mission is not difficult. I told them we should not fear any team,” the Portuguese coach said.
Of the match against Iran, Peseiro said he would work on achieving a win and make sure that a goal will not be scored against the Saudis.
He said the absence of star striker Yaser Al-Qahtani is not a really big deal. “I was told that there are 150 strikers in the Saudi league and our ambitions to win will not be blocked by the absence of one or two players.”
He said the chances to qualify are there despite the fact that there is shortage of points. To get there, Peseiro said, the aim is to finish on first position, if not then the second and if the team reached third place focus should be on playing the remaining matches.
The Saudi national team is currently ranked in fourth position of Group B with only four points from one win, one draw and two losses. The Saudis drew with Iran in the opening match 1-1 in Riyadh, won against UAE 2-1 in UAE, lost against South Korea 2-0 in Riyadh and against North Korea 1-0 in North Korea.
Saudi Arabia opens its second round campaign against Iran on March 28. For the team to qualify it needs to get all 12 points from the four remaining group matches. Peseiro took over as national coach after Naser Al-Jowhar resigned after a poor performance by the Saudi national team in the World Cup qualifying matches.
