On Saturday, the ninth round of the Saudi Professional League continues, with two matches with different ambitions for the four teams. Diriyah will host its counterpart, Al-Taawoun, at the “First Park” Stadium in the capital, Riyadh, while the King Khalid Sports City Stadium in Tabuk will witness an anticipated confrontation with NEOM, according to agreement.
Attention is turning to the confrontation between Al-Diriyah and Al-Taawoun, which comes at a sensitive time for both teams, after the former stumbled against Al-Nasr with 3 unanswered goals in the last round, while the latter enters the match in relatively better morale, after achieving its first victory this season at the expense of Qatari club Al-Rayyan in the second AFC Champions League, after a series of negative results that have plagued it since the beginning of the competitions.
Al-Taawoun hopes that its continental victory will constitute a turning point in its domestic career, especially since it did not taste victory during the past eight rounds, contenting itself with 3 draws compared to 5 losses. The last of which was his defeat to Al-Shabab by three clean goals.
These results put the team before a new test, after it became required to transfer the improvement it showed in Asia to the league competitions, and avoid returning to the spiral of stumbles that kept it in the late positions.
Al-Taawoun is relying on the technical change that its ranks recently witnessed, after its contract with Serbian coach Vuk Razovic, succeeding his compatriot Zarko Lazetic. The new coach is looking forward to investing in the morale boost that the Asian victory gave his players, and achieving the team’s first victory in the league this season.
Cooperation is armed with a number of reliable elements in making a difference, led by Muhammad Al-Kuwaikbi, Younis Al-Bahrawi, Ashraf Al-Mahdiwi, and Marin Petkov.
On the other hand, Al-Diriyah enters the confrontation looking to regain its balance after losing to Al-Nasr by 3 goals for nothing, despite appearing at a good level in periods of the match.
Diriyah occupies ninth place with 11 points, after being unable to achieve victory in the last two matches. It tied 0-0 with Abha before the break, then lost to Al-Nasr in the last round.
Portuguese Bruno Lage, Diriyah coach, seeks to quickly return his team to the path of victories, and avoid continuing to lose points, especially since the newly promoted team to the Saudi Professional League has great ambitions after strengthening its ranks with a number of distinguished deals.
Prominent in the ranks of Diriyah are Uruguayan striker Darwin Nunez, Frenchman Enzo Milot, Algerian Adil Boulbena, and Senegalese Idrissa Gueye.
In Tabuk, NEOM will receive its counterpart Al-Ettifaq in a confrontation between two teams entering the match under relatively similar circumstances, after each of them came out with a draw in the last round of the league, before achieving a victory at the beginning of their journey in the Gulf Champions League for clubs.
NEOM enters the match occupying fifth place with 16 points, looking forward to regaining the tone of local victories, after being content with a draw against Al-Hazm in the last round, before achieving a broad victory over the Yemeni people of Hadramaut with 4 goals to none in the Gulf Championship.
The team hopes to take advantage of Al-Ittihad’s absence from the ninth round competitions, after its match was postponed, to strengthen its position in the standings and get closer to the leading teams.
NEOM will reach the nineteenth point in the event of victory, equaling Al-Nasr’s tally, which had the same number of points before the start of the round, while the two teams’ ranking will remain dependent on the results of the remaining matches and the comparison criteria.
NEOM is participating in the confrontation in light of the continued absence of its French coach, Christophe Galtier, who is serving a disciplinary punishment of suspension for 3 matches, starting from the last match against Al-Hazm.
On the other hand, Al-Ettifaq is looking forward to returning from Tabuk with three points, after tying with Al-Khaleej with a goal for each team in the last round, raising its score to 12 points in seventh place.
Australian Arthur Pappas, Al-Ettifaq coach, realizes the importance of achieving a positive result against NEOM. Not only to improve the team’s position in the rankings, but also to gain a morale boost before the expected strong confrontation against Al-Ittihad in the tenth round.
“Faris Al-Dahna” enters the match in high spirits, after starting his career in the Gulf Champions League for Clubs with a valuable victory over Kazma Al-Kuwaiti with two goals to none, signed by Jordan Larson and Doda.
Pappas hopes that his players will continue to present the positive levels that appeared in the Gulf confrontation, while improving their ability to decide local matches, especially as the team is looking to reduce the points difference with its competitors in the advanced positions.
But Al-Ettifaq will go into the confrontation in the absence of a number of its members, led by Spaniard Alvaro Medran, who underwent surgery to clean the toe, and needs about 5 days to recover, in addition to Ryan Messi, who suffers from a stretched internal ligament injury, and is expected to need 10 days before returning.
Irishman Brendan Rodgers, coach of Al-Qadisiyah, praised his player Muhammad Abu Al-Shamat, noting that he has the capabilities that qualify him for success in the English Premier League, stressing at the same time his desire for the player to continue with his team to continue his development, while he justified the decline in the performance of some of his players against Abha to fatigue and lack of time between matches.
Rodgers said, during the press conference following Al-Qadisiyah’s 2-1 victory over Abha, in the ninth round of the Saudi Professional League, that his team faced physical difficulties after its return from Uzbekistan, where it played against Pakhtakor in the AFC Elite Champions League.
The Al-Qadisiyah coach indicated that fatigue was evident on some members of his team during the confrontation, especially in light of the high temperatures.
Regarding Al-Qadisiyah’s rise to the top of the standings, and the pressures that may accompany the team before its expected confrontation against Al-Hilal, Rodgers stressed the importance of dealing with the matches gradually, and not being preoccupied with the upcoming confrontations before competing in the closest matches.
He said: “It is important that we work to rotate players. The team’s top scorer, Quiñones, and a number of other players were absent today, and we will give some elements a rest before facing Al Hilal.”
He continued: “But we think about each match separately, and we will not be preoccupied with facing Al Hilal before preparing for our match against Al Taawoun. We have to focus on each confrontation independently in order to continue moving in the right direction.”
In response to a question about the possibility of Mohamed Abu Al-Shamat moving to the English Premier League, Rodgers praised the levels presented by the Saudi player, stressing that he possesses the necessary ingredients to have a professional experience in one of the strongest international leagues.
He explained: “Abu Al-Shamat is an excellent player, and he develops over time, and I am happy to have him with me in Al-Qadisiyah. Certainly, he has chances to succeed in the strongest league in the world, but I want him to continue with us until he grows and develops, and offers a lot to Saudi football.”
In turn, Croatian Damir Buric, coach of Abha, acknowledged the right of Al-Qadisiyah to win over his team, pointing to the technical differences between the two sides, and the inability of his players to capitalize on the opportunities they were given during the confrontation.
Boric said, during the press conference after the match: “Al-Qadisiyah deserved to win, as it is a team that has very distinguished players. Despite this, we succeeded in creating some opportunities, but we did not exploit them as required. “I congratulate Al-Qadisiyah for this well-deserved victory.”
In response to Asharq Al-Awsat’s question about Abha’s level, the Croatian coach confirmed that the technical differences were clear during the confrontation, but he refused to downplay what his players presented.
The Abha coach pointed out that the lack of offensive effectiveness represents one of the most prominent challenges facing his team, especially in light of the opportunities created by the players without success in translating them into goals.
