JEDDAH: The Saudi national team faces Thailand in a friendly match today at King Fahd international stadium ahead of an important World Cup qualifying match against South Korea that takes place in Riyadh on Nov. 19.
The Saudi Football Federation said the Thailand match is the first of two friendly matches lined up before the match against the Koreans. The second match is against Bahrain on Nov. 12 in Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia is in second place in Group B with Iran on four points, equal with North Korea and South Korea.
The Saudi national coach, Naser Al-Jowhar, said in a press conference on Thursday that the Saudi performance is satisfactory and stable. He said, “The preparation to face South Korea in the next match is going well as planned. We are planning for the upcoming period of time to work harder to achieve the ambitions of the Saudi fans.”
Of the criticism he faced when announcing the names of the Saudi players to join the training camp, he said, “We always work to benefit from our mistakes through positive and constructive criticism.
I worked as a Saudi coach for 11 years. The choosing of players was based on technical vision that came from many written reports. I called players that will help me to achieve good results in the upcoming period of time.
As for Muhammad Nur and Muhammad Al-Daie, I do not need their services at this time. I am responsible for not including them in the players’ list and let everyone know that I was not forced to choose or exclude any players. It was purely my decision.”
Al-Jowhar dismissed reports that he had disagreements with other players on the national team saying that they are all working together to achieve good results to qualify for the World Cup. Al-Jowhar said he is a professional coach and that if he surrendered to rumors and troubles with players he will not do a good job.
