JEDDAH, 19 March 2005 — Saudi Arabia’s preparations for key World Cup qualifying matches suffered a blow after losing their second straight friendly international against Finland last night.
After a 1-0 defeat by Egypt the Kingdom were again at the short end of a 4-1 verdict against Finland in a match played at the Prince Muhammad ibn Fahd Stadium in Dammam.
During the first half Finland put the Saudis under pressure by playing attacking football.
The Saudi team had so many chances in the first half unlike their game against Egypt. But Finland managed to forge ahead 1-0 at the end of the first half.
The lone goal for the hosts came in the 49th minute when a nice pass by Mohammed Nur was converted by Yousri Al Basha.
Although the Saudis seemed to hit their stride they could not simply matched up against the better Finland side who added three more goals to their tally in the second half.
The Saudis nearly equalized in the 70th minute when Yasser Qahtani headed a rising pass from Abdul Aziz Al Khathran, but the Finland goalkeeper saved the potential leveler.
In the 73rd minute Finland scored their second goal from a pass inside the box to spark a three-goal blitz in a span of five minutes.
Adding to the Saudi woes, captain Sami Al Jaber missed a penalty kick awarded in the 85th minute. Saudi Arabia play Korea next Friday and Kuwait on March 30 in the Asian zone World Cup qualifers.
