JEDDAH, 26 March 2005 — What a difference a week makes. Still smarting from a 4-1 friendly international defeat by Finland last Friday and 1-0 by Egypt the week before that, Saudi Arabia yesterday came back like a team reborn to beat South Korea 2-0 and go top of Group A in the final round of the Asian World Cup qualifiers.
The big victory at the Prince Muhammad ibn Fahd stadium in Dammam gave the Kingdom national team 3 points as they stayed on course to qualify for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany with leading total of 4 points from two games in the group having tied with Uzbekistan 1-1 last month.
South Korea is on second place with 3 points in a tie with Kuwait who scored a 2-1 victory at home to Uzbekistan yesterday.
Under pressure going into yesterday’s match, Saudi national team coach Argentinian Gabriel Calderon obviously did his homework and delivered the goods in a most accomplished manner.
On the day, the Saudis played like there was no tomorrow matching pretty well against the Koreans on both ends of the field with a skillful performance and slick control at midfield.
The Saudis’ first goal came from an excellent solo effort by the star of the match Yasser Al-Kahtani who broke free from Korean defender, took the ball inside penalty box then rifled a nice cross to Saud Kariri who slammed it home in the 29th minute.
Saudi Arabia put extra pressure on the Koreans and came close to scoring anew in the 36th minute when Manaf Abu Shgeer took the ball inside the penalty kick and mounted a shot in front of the Korean goal but the shot was cleared by the goalkeeper. First half ended 1-0 for the home team.
The Koreans looked nowhere near the form that brought them to a semifinal finish during the 2002 World Cup although they had several chances testing the Saudi goalie Mabrook Zayed on two occasions, in the 5th and 10th minutes. The Koreans put extra attention on both Saudi strikers Sami Al-Jaber and Yasser Al-Kahtani.
The Saudi defense stood up well against all enemy attempts and credit should go to defenders Tukar and Al-Montashri. Saudi Arabia’s Yasser Al-Kahtani came again in the 72nd minute and took the ball inside the Korean penalty box and was tackled from the back and awarded a penalty kick.
Yasser duly converted the penalty for the Saudis’ second goal that effectively broke the backs of the Koreans who were unable to mount a decent shot on goal after that.
Prince Muhammad ibn Fahd, Eastern Province governor, attended the match and congratulated the Saudi team on their excellent victory against Korea. He urged the Saudi players to continue their excellent performance with the same level until the team qualiy for the World Cup finals.
Prince Sultan ibn Fahd, president of Saudi Football Federation, said that the victory would inspire the team the desire to win the remaining matches.
He urged the Saudi players to concentrate on the remaining of the matches especially the upcoming match against Kuwait in Kuwait.
He said: “I spoke to Saudi coach Calderon and told him that as much as we gave you authority over the team, we will hold you responsible for what happens to the team.
To the Saudi press, we tell them to judge themselves before they write anything. All what they wrote about the Saudi coach that he was bringing the team down was wrong.
They should never judge the coach by friendly matches because friendly matches are played to discover mistakes before the official match.
I congradualte the Saudi team and I am looking forward to see the same excellent performance in the coming match against Kuwait.”
Saudi captain Sami Al-Jaber thanked the Saudi fans and said: “We should not over-celebrate the victory against South Korea, because this is one match in six station stops in the road to qualify to the World Cup.
This match is over and we should concentrate on winning the match against Kuwait because winning the match against Kuwait means that we will earn 7 points in the first match stages and will make it easier for us in the second stage matches of the group.
If we lose the match against Kuwait then we will be in difficult situation. That is why we have to forget about the match and throw it behind us and concentrate on what is coming.”
