JEDDAH: The Saudi national team drew with Paraguay 1-1 yesterday in an international football friendly match in Switzerland.
One goal down at the end of first half, the Saudis managed to have their game come together in the second half to score the equalizer.
The friendly match is part of the Saudi team’s preparations for the upcoming Asian World Cup qualifying rounds. The Kingdom’s next qualifying match will be played at home in the Saudi capital Riyadh against Iran.
Ranged against Latin America’s current leading team in the World Cup qualifiers, the Saudis had a rocky start. Paraguay pulled in an early goal in the 10th minute courtesy of forward Christian Riveros.
The national team struggled in organizing tactical attacks and posed no serious threats to the Paraguayan goal. Their only real chance came in the last minute of the half when forward Nasser Al-Shamrani struck on a powerful right footer that the Paraguayan goalkeeper narrowly cleared away. Their game picking up in the second half, the Saudis found the equalizer after a series of attempts. Faisal Al-Sultan outfoxed the goalkeeper to hit a looping shot into the net.
Ukraine beat Poland 1-0
In Kieve, Ukraine beat neighbors Poland 1-0 in a friendly dominated throughout by the home side yesterday. Poland Goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski was kept busy but it was not until the second minute of first-half stoppage time that young midfielder Serhiy Kravchenko beat him with a header after a Serhiy Nazarenko cross. The win for Ukraine, now trained by Olexiy Mikhailichenko after Oleg Blokhin was sacked because of Ukraine’s failure to qualify for the Euro 2008, follows success against Sweden in a friendly in June.
— With input from agencies
