https://arab.news/pygjr
- The French coach’s second stint with the Green Falcons did not pan out like his first, and there will be no repeat this summer of the heroics against Argentina at Qatar 2022
LONDON: They say in football that you should never go back and Herve Renard must be thinking about that at the moment as his second spell in charge of Saudi Arabia came to an end on Friday.
The Frenchman returned in October 2024 but lasted just 18 months. A more sober statistic is that there are less than two months before the Green Falcons kick off the 2026 World Cup against Uruguay on June 15 in Miami.
He won’t get a chance then to engineer another shock opening win over South American opposition to rival that famous Argentina victory at the 2022 World Cup. The way things were going, however, and even with Uruguay not being as strong as their neighbors and rivals, there was little prospect of that happening. This team of 2026 does not look like the one of four years ago.
The friendlies in March spelled the end, though it has taken almost three weeks for the axe to fall. The 4-0 loss against Egypt in Jeddah was a disaster. As the hero of the 1994 World Cup (the first and last time the team got to the knockout stages of the tournament) Saeed Al-Owairan said, it could have been a lot more, and even the Egyptians were complaining about how little of a test they were given. The defense was all over the place and there was little fluidity or creativity in attack. The performance against Serbia was better but the 2-1 defeat was still a defeat.
There was a sense that Renard wasn’t at all sure of his best 11 with the World Cup so close, and there was plenty of chopping and changing. One of the reasons why he returned in 2024 was a comforting familiarity with the players, the teams, the culture, the league, the federation, the fans and the media — everything that his successor and predecessor Roberto Mancini was not.
Mancini complained about the attitudes of certain players and was very vocal about the perceived lack of minutes that some of the squad were getting in the local league. Renard has made similar comments, but surely was aware of the situation before returning and, as the local media pointed out, the situation was not as bad as the boss said and, after all, it was his job to get the best out of what there was.
Despite his popularity with the federation, there is no doubt that qualification weakened his position. Unlike in 2022 when Saudi Arabia won their group in the main stage, finishing above Japan and Australia to qualify automatically, the road to North America was much less direct.
This time, the team finished third, just a point above Indonesia, six behind Australia and looked to be playing a different sport to group winner Japan. Just seven goals were scored in ten games, with none of those coming from recognized strikers. In the end, the World Cup spot came in the playoffs, helped by home advantage and a favorable schedule.
While there was delight at a third straight qualification, the stats made for less happy reading. In his first spell from 2019 to 2023, Saudi Arabia won 21 out of 45 matches, scoring an average of 1.26 goals per game and conceding 0.84. In his return, Renard oversaw 11 wins out of 28, 11 losses and scored an average of 1.07 and conceded an average of 1.2.
To sum up, this time around, the team were scoring 15 percent fewer goals and conceding 43 percent more. Nobody expects a free-scoring Saudi Arabia at the World Cup but the defense was looking increasingly vulnerable — the last clean sheet came nine games ago and that was a huge source of concern.
There was a sense that the coach and the team were not at the same level as 2022. Salem Al-Dawsari is still the star but will be 35 this summer. Renard had not forged the same kind of identity as before. In that famous win over Argentina, the team played so bravely with a high line against Lionel Messi and co., and while there was some luck, there was energy, discipline, belief, teamwork, two great goals and much more.
The game against Egypt did not suggest that the 57-year-old tactician was capable of lifting the team to similar heights. Losing in such a manner to an Arab rival on home soil led to widespread criticism from influential media figures and, it seems that the federation did not think that his record was strong enough to defend, so a change has been made.
Still, it is sad end to the relationship between the Frenchman and the Green Falcons. Qualification may not have been impressive but was still successful, and losing a job just 55 days before the World Cup must be tough to take, even if it was not totally unexpected and has happened before. Ahead of the 2018 World Cup, Bert van Marwijk did not have his contract renewed with the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, and ahead of the 2006 tournament, Gabriel Calderon was also replaced.
That will be of little consolation to Renard, but for Saudi Arabia the focus now is on what happens next and whether this gamble pays off. We won’t have long to wait to see if it does.