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 back will be Hasan Mauth. This is strange as this is usually Shuhail’s spot but I’ll elaborate later.

Center back will Osama Hawsawi of course but I don’t know who his partner will be. Will it be Naif Al Qadi? Majed Al Mershedi? or maybe former AFC Player of the Year Hamad Al Montashiri? All of them were given minutes to play during the recent friendly against Malaysia.

Left back will most likely be Abdullah Al Shuhail. That’s right! Our regular right back is playing left back! This is actually his preferred position at his club Al Shabab with his team mate Hasan Mauth playing right back.

Midfield will consist of Ahmed Otaif after coming back from the one match ban against North Korea. I don’t know who will be his partner. Most likely the experienced Saud Khariri but I’d wager Tayseer Al Jasim will feature somewhere considering the brace he scored against the last time we faced Bahrain competitively.

Left Midfield will go to Hussein Abdul Ghani. AbdulRahman Al-Qahtani is injured so Abdul Ghani will move up a bit from his preferred left back role to fit in.

Right midfield is going to be Mohammed Noor. This is not his preferred position and I can’t see why Ahmed Al Mousa isn’t in the squad yet to fill this crucial position.

The forward line is most likely going to be Malek Mauth and Yasser Al Qahtani. Malek showed good form by scoring against Malaysia and is in good form for his club. Yasser isn’t so hot right now but with the injury of Naif Hazazi there’s really no one else to take his place.

Well, that’s it. Good luck to Saudi Arabia tonight!