Saudi Arabia is, sadly, out of the World Cup, but the team can hold their heads high — and their supporters can too. To have got as far as Saudi Arabia did is more than most countries can boast. That includes many with a great footballing history and who are still highly regarded in the game — countries such as Scotland, the Netherlands, Hungary, Venezuela, Colombia and Algeria.
Just because they did not get into the 2002 World Cup at all, they do not feel that they are now second-rate footballing nations. Far from it. They are as keen about as ever about the “beautiful game”, as some call it. Football, like other sports, is as much about losing as about winning. Not everyone can win. Someone has to lose. Indeed, in a tournament like the World Cup all but one has to lose. The important point is that Saudi Arabia played with enthusiasm and with a star quality that impressed the crowds and the world’s sports writers. There will, of course, be lessons to be learned. There were failures. Nor did it help that captain Sami Al-Jaber was rushed to hospital last Saturday with acute appendicitis or that his replacement Obeid Al-Dossari tore a ligament in his left knee during the game against Cameroon.
But throughout, the team did their best, and it is no shame to accept that others on this occasion did better. Equally worth keeping in mind is that Saudi Arabia is in good company in leaving at the end of the first round. Who would have imagined that France, the world champions last time round, would also return home without scoring any goals, or that mighty Argentina, the pre-tournament favorites and a country that has produced some of the world’s greatest footballers, would fail to get through to the second round? CostaRica’s early return home was, likewise unexpected.
But the World Cup deals in the unexpected. Most of the teams that make it to the first round are as good as each other and the line between defeat and victory is a narrow one. It depends on a variety of factors from climate to how players are feeling that day and the level of support from the crowds. A game which today ends in success for one team might tomorrow end in failure against the same opponent. That is why, as one 19th century Englishman commented, it is important to remember that it not the winning that matters but the taking part — and doing it well. The idea that winning is everything is a fool’s idea, and must inevitably result in a great deal of misery.
Fortunately, Saudi Arabians can look at defeat and not be overcome — unlike in some countries where football has almost become a religion. Back in 1950, young Brazilians committed suicide after their team was defeated by Uruguay in the final; life, they said, was not worth living. In 1969, El Salvador went to war with Honduras over a football match; 5,000 people died. Maybe it is a Latin American thing: Going overboard where football is concerned. It is there in Argentina even now: A collective depression has descended upon the country after being kicked out of the tournament. For a country that has made it past the first round in every World Cup since 1962, and which is also still in the middle of an economic and political crisis, the shock in Argentina is somewhat understandable. For Saudi Arabia though, there is a more stoic approach.The Saudi team and its supporters know how to take the rough with the smooth. And there is always a next time. So people should sit back, with some pride, wipe a tear from the eye, and watch the rest of the World Cup for the sheer pleasure and excitement of it — carefully choosing whom to support from now on.
