JEDDAH, 24 June 2006 — Many fans last night watched the Saudi national team’s third game against Spain at the World Cup with negative hopes of winning. Cafes around Jeddah were less crowded than the other nights with even less fans cheering.
Coffee shops that had erected projector screens to show the games were half filled with people. Fans waving Saudi flags and wearing green scarves were few and far between.
Even though the performance of the Saudi national team was at its best since the beginning of the tournament, it seemed that people generally did not feel enthusiastic because they felt the team had a very slim chance of really qualifying. Shouts of happiness and support from supporters when the Saudi team had opportunities to score were not as loud as in previous matches. Even though the 1-0 loss was not as bad as the last match, there were only a few fans in and around Tahliah Street carrying the Saudi flag and singing the national anthem.
“This is the best performance I have ever seen from the Saudi national team,” As’ad Hammad, a Saudi college student, told Arab News.
Hammad expected the Saudi team to lose but with Spain scoring more goals. “I consider the result of this game a great success for our national team,” he added.
Hammad said that the Saudi team could have easily won against Tunisia and Ukraine if they had played with the performance they demonstrated in their match against Spain.
Sami Ashoor, a Saudi account director at a local advertising agency, said that he wanted to watch the game between Ukraine and Tunisia, which was being played at the same time the Saudi-Spain match was being played. “My friends pressured me to come with them to a café to watch our national team losing once more,” he said.
He added that he felt it was pointless for him to watch the game because either way, if Saudi Arabia won or lost the team would still not have qualified for the next round.
“We needed to win at least 3-0 against Spain to qualify and with the performance of our team it defies logic to think that would be possible,” he noted.
Another fan Salah Al-Harbi, a Saudi official at King Abdul Aziz University, felt despondent after the game. “We could have won against Spain,” he said.
“The Saudi national team lost many chances of scoring goals in this game,” he added while enthusiastically explaining how the Saudi strikes went wrong.
The problem with the Saudi team, he said, is that they play good only when they are not under mental pressure. “Since they knew they were not qualifying, they lost their fear and played like they should be,” he said with a sullen face.
