RIYADH, 11 June — Female soccer fans in the Kingdom are pessimistic about today’s match between Saudi Arabia and Ireland in the World Cup finals, according to a survey conducted by Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News.
The participants do not find any reason to believe that today’s game will end differently to the previous two matches with Germany and Cameroon, in both of which Saudi Arabia were defeated.
One of the 70 Saudi women who participated in the survey, whose ages ranged from 17 to 31, blamed the players for having no ambition or drive.
The women in general believe that the rigors of the coaching camps killed the players’ fighting spirit. The Irish team will win today because of that team’s determination to enter the second round. And the professionalism of Ireland’s coach, Mick McCarthy, will also play a major role in the Irish victory, they argued.
Ummu Rahf, a 29-year-old housewife, does not believe that the Saudi team will rise to the occasion because they are facing a team that is strongly determined to win maximum points to enable their entry to the second round.
“It is also because our team have lost the ambition to win as we have already lost our chance of entering the next round,” the Jeddah housewife said.
According to a secondary school teacher, Nourah Al-Majed, 31, today’s game will be overshadowed by the shock defeat the Saudi team received at the hands of the Germans. She said that this initial experience had been so traumatic that the team’s better performance in its encounter with Cameroon did nothing to improve the morale of the players.
“I didn’t like the way the Saudi press praised the 1-0 defeat against Cameroon as a great Saudi achievement. We wanted nothing short of a win,” said Nourah.
Reem Motlaq, a secondary school student, is unhappy with Saudi coach Nasir Al-Jowhar, particularly after his statement on Saturday that he was confident his team will win in today’s match.
Reem said: “It’s just empty talk. On the other hand, I am impressed by the approach of Ireland’s coach. He warned his players that the Saudis will not be an easy game. He also cautioned his boys to muster all their strength in their bid to collect all three points.”
The fans are unanimous on one point: that the flaw in the training and preparation strategies adopted by the Saudi soccer officials was a major factor that led to their early exit from the World Cup.
“I have been following the coaching camps of our national team in Riyadh, Italy, Dammam and finally in the Japanese city of Chofu. I believe that they have injured the players psychologically because they have been away from their families, which in turn killed their fighting spirit and lowered their performance level at the most critical moment.”
She pointed out that the preparation camps of the leading world cup teams lasted only two weeks, as their team members were playing in various European teams or in other locations. However, the Saudi team held their first camp in Riyadh for two weeks in February followed by three weeks in Italy in March and another in Dammam. There was another two-week camp in Riyadh before the team left for the 18-day training session in Chofu in Japan. But what was the final outcome of all this?
“Nothing! So those officials responsible for our team should revise their game plan from A to Z,” she said.
She blamed the technical officials for the poor performance of the team. “I put the 60 percent of the blame on the soccer federation officials who selected and prepared the team.”
She also demanded an explanation from some of the team members who wanted only to serve their own personal interests rather than the greater interests of the national team.
Muna, a housewife, said the Saudi team’s good name can be salvaged only by changing the strategies adopted by the Kingdom’s soccer officials.
“We should also re-engineer the Saudi Soccer Federation by enlisting experts who can improve the standards of soccer in the country,” the fan suggested.
