Saudi Arabia vs Bahrain – 1st Leg
Saudi Arabia National Team managed to hold their host Bahrain to a 0 – 0 draw in a game held last night in the small Kingdom of Bahrain pursuing their last chance to feature in 2010 World Cup for their 5th appearance consecutively.
Bahraini players led by Milan Macala the Czech Coach who knows all about soccer in the Arabian Gulf Countries since he has been a coach for Kuwait, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Oman spending most of his experienced age in GCC.
Honestly this game were almost in the hands of the Bahrainis but we were saved by luck and our excellent Goalie Waleed Abdullah who should have been chosen as the star of the match for he was put into the test and managed to dodge more dangerous balls rather than the Bahraini Goal Keeper.
Pesiero proved to be lacking the right tactics and did not prepare the Saudis well with few friendly matches in which the Saudis lost to Oman 2-1 and beaten Malaysia 2-1. In this match against Bahrain he surprised us in playing with three defense midfielders allowing great pressure on central back and left and right backs too that resulted in dangerous attacks on the Goalie that any of these Bahraini attempts could have secure a goal to the Bahrainis.
Moreover Pesiero called on Tayseer Al Jassim but quite late (a brilliant attacking midfielder and play maker) to support forwards and managed in the little remaining time to push for quick attacks that was enough to take the lead for us but Nasser Al Shamrani (replaced Malek Muath) did his usual selfish shots whilst other players had taken better positions.
The loss of Hazzazi (injured) and with Yasser Al Qahtani’s struggle to be in his best form also Nasser Al Shamrani’s inability to score a single goal since he started as a replacement for either Malek or Yasser, Pesiero should have been trying new talents like Abdulaziz Al Saaran who his shine was stunning in last year’s Saudi Premier League.
More Saudi Arabia News
B-Day: Pre Match Squad Predictions and Analysis
Finally, the crucial match against Bahrain will kick off today in Manama at 10PM local time due to the fasting month of Ramadan.
I predict the good ol’ 4-4-2 formation. No real reason to change that one.
In goal will most certainly be Waleed Abdullah. He’s been dependable between the sticks in all his appearances and has pretty much cemented his place.
Right ... [read more]
Nayef, Don’t Go!
Nayef Hazazi has sustained a Cruciate ligament injury in a friendly match against the Malaysian National Team. He went in on a Malaysian player with a poor tackle and only got himself hurt. He’ll be out for the rest of the season. Al-Nasr player Rayan Bilal has been called up to fill the roster.
While, ... [read more]
Playoff squad announced!

Sorry for the long delay in posting but as you know, not much has been happening on the national team front. The entire country is now focused on the just-started 2009-2010 season of the Saudi Premier League.
But now that the Bahrain match is close at hand the FA has released the squad list for ... [read more]
First Up:Bahrain…

It’s that time of the year again where nothing of interest happens in footy except club transfers.
And while there is quite some time until the boys in green take on Bahrain in our third place playoff match (September to be exact) I thought it would be nice to pass the summer ... [read more]
Win at all costs

So Prince Sultan bin Fahad, President of Youth Welfare, had a long chat with our national coach Jose Peseiro. I assume the conversation lasted 10 seconds with Prince Sultan saying something like “You win the next 4 games or your ass is out of here faster than you can say “revolving door” ... [read more]
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USER COMMENTS
Nayef, Don't Go!
في امان الله نايف اذهب ال ي بيتك و انظر الي كرة القدم ... [Read More]Saudi Arabia vs Bahrain - 1st Leg
my team ( Saudi Arabia ) didn't play wll. I don't know the reason but, next wednesday I'll go to Riy ... [Read More]WCB Team Member: Shahed
Nice write up...usually I never reply to these thing but this time I will,Thanks for the great info ... [Read More]First Up:Bahrain...
Can't wait for these matches! Although it felt bad that we placed 3rd in the group, I'm also excited ... [Read More]First Up:Bahrain...
Can't wait for these matches! Although it felt bad that we placed 3rd in the group, I'm also excited ... [Read More]

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