RIYADH/DAMMAM/JEDDAH, 2 June — Disappointment was etched on the faces of soccer-crazy Saudis and expatriates in the Kingdom as Germany rampaged to an 8-0 World Cup victory over Saudi Arabia in Group E yesterday with the help of a Miroslav Klose hat trick.
Friday saw jubilation as outsiders Senegal beat the current cup holders France by a solitary goal on the opening day of the tournament and recorded one of the biggest upsets in the tournament’s history. Yesterday, it was anger, shock and dismay among Saudi citizens and residents as they watched their football team’s humiliating drubbing by three-time winners Germany in their opening World Cup match in Japan.
People across the Kingdom gathered in groups to watch the match. Most commercial and business establishments had made arrangements for their staff to watch the match on television. By half-time when Germany led 4-0, the outcome seemed to be a fait accompli.
Opinions on the team’s performance ranged from stoic to angrily critical.
“We’re down but not out,” said Muhammad Al-Attas, a hotel executive in Jeddah implying that the Kingdom would feature in two other matches in the first round.
“The way our team played today has disappointed the Arab world. Of course, I expected Germany to win but only by a narrow margin. Fifteen of us watched the match and were shocked at the performance of our team,” said Wael Al-Osta, account manager at Abdullah Bakhashab Est. in Jeddah.
“Our team didn’t play well and we paid the price. It appeared that the whole team played carelessly. Basically, there was no team spirit. The Germans have been preparing their team for the 2006 championship that they will be hosting, and it showed. They started well and surely they will win all their three first round matches. Our team may not go beyond the first round the way they played today. We have just two or three players who played well today. We can depend upon striker Talal Mishal and defender Ahmed Khalil,” said Awad A. Al-Assiri, sales and marketing assistant at MedNet Gulf in Jeddah. “We must have a match plan if we have to go ahead in the tournament,” he added.
Dr. Michael Bitzer, German general manager of MedNet Gulf, said 60 members of his staff watched the match on the office TV. “All of them were disappointed at the end. The German prowess in heading the ball was in evidence as six out of eight goals were headers. European teams’ big advantage is the experience derived from league tournaments. Saudi players should consider playing in Europe in the future,” he said.
It was not so much the defeat that shocked supporters, but the manner in which the Saudi team was defeated. “We did not expect Germany to lose to our team, but we did expect our performance to be like an international team and not as a second-rate club team,” said Ahmad Al-Abki, a Saudi journalist in the Eastern Province. “It was a shocking performance, far worse than their showing in warm-up matches,” he added.
Maqbil Al-Sayyari, sports editor of an Arabic daily in the Eastern Province, said he could not believe it was the same national side that defeated Senegal in a warm-up match. “We were everything but a team. There was no teamwork, no attack, no defense and no willingness to put some resistance,” he said. “Sami Al-Jaber, who figured nine times in kick-off during the match, and Hasan Al-Yami, Abdul Aziz Al-Gadran and Khamis Al-Owairan were all a big disappointment. Their body language from the very first minute showed that they had accepted defeat. Their passes were casual and movement in the field too slow; it was as if they were forced to run,” he said.
Muhammad A. Al-Aidroos, a King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals student, said: “Defeat at the hands of former world champions was expected but not the humiliating manner in which we were trounced. I find no depth in our national side. It was just a media hype that created heroes out of amateurs.”
Abdul Aziz Al-Ghiamah, sports editor of Asharq Al-Awsat in Riyadh, said: “The Kingdom’s performance came nowhere near an acceptable level. There was no game plan. They lacked strategy. Our players like Mohammed Noor, Hussain Sulimani and Nawaf Al-Temyat were not in good shape and played poorly.” Abdul Aziz did not think the Kingdom’s national coach Nasser Al-Johar would be fired, since the team as a whole fared badly.
Not since 1982 has a country put in such a miserable performance during a World Cup match as Saudi Arabia did today. It has earned a dubious distinction in the annals of World Cup history. “The Germans entered this game determined to win, since their Group E has strong contenders like Cameroon and Ireland. It’s a historic victory for Germany, similar to but even better than the World Cup landslide against Mexico in Argentina, of six goals to nil,” he added.
Omar Zubaidy in Riyadh said: “I was very upset and stopped watching after the third goal. The national coach should be fired. They must rebuild the team as some of the players are past their glory.”
Riyadh-based sports journalist Mahmoud Laota said it was expected both in the media and the players that Germany, the three-time World Cup winner and participant in the World Cup for 15 times, would beat the Kingdom. What was shocking was the scale of defeat. National coach Nasser Al-Johar may have had the Senegal-France match in mind when he changed his strategy for this month. He should have allowed the Saudi team to play a defensive game against a world class team like Germany.
Laota said there was no coordination among the midfielders Khamis Al-Owairan and Nawaf Al-Temyat. That was why the German players managed to cut across the forward lines with the result that Hasan Al-Yami and Sami Al-Jaber failed to get past the German goalkeeper.
— Javid Hassan in Riyadh, Saeed Haider in Dammam & K.S. Ramkumar in Jeddah.
