“Saudi League”: Al-Qadisiyah is tough on immortality with five goals

Abdul Rahman Al-Safri, player of the first Al-Faisaly football team, confirmed that the results achieved by his team during the past seven rounds of the Saudi Professional League do not reflect its true technical level, indicating that the team presented good levels in a number of matches, but bad luck and lack of success prevented it from achieving the first victory.

Al-Safari said, in his first interview with Asharq Al-Awsat since joining Al-Faisaly: “I am happy to join a large club the size of Al-Faisaly, and the atmosphere within the team is excellent. I have found great cooperation from everyone since my arrival, and I look forward to providing the required technical addition, and contributing with my colleagues to improving the results and achieving the aspirations of the club’s fans.”

He added: “The previous results do not reflect the true level of the team. We played outstanding matches, and we deserved better results in some matches, but luck was not on our side. We hope that the international break will be a positive opportunity to address mistakes, enhance harmony between players, and return better during the next stage.”

Al-Safari stressed the importance of the upcoming confrontation against Abha, stressing that his team is looking forward to investing in the match to achieve its first victory in the league, and move towards improving its position in the rankings.

He explained: “We are well aware of the difficulty of facing Abha and its importance for both teams, and our focus is on providing the level that befits Al-Faisaly, and appearing in a way that enables us to score the three points. We need the first victory we have been looking for since the beginning of the season, and we hope that the Abha match will be a turning point in our career, and the beginning of a series of positive results.”

Regarding his readiness to participate in the confrontation, Al-Safari confirmed that he has full technical and physical readiness, and that the decision to participate remains in the hands of the technical staff, adding: “I am ready to participate whenever the coach asks me to do so, and the most important thing for me is to be at the expectations of the technical and administrative staff and Al-Faisaly fans, and to provide everything I have to serve the team and help it achieve its goals.”

Al-Faisaly is experiencing a difficult start in the Saudi Professional League. He was unable to achieve any victory after 7 rounds, contenting himself with three draws and 4 losses, ranking sixteenth with 5 points. Which doubles the importance of his next confrontation against Abha in his efforts to get out of the cycle of negative results.

The wheel of the Saudi Professional League is turning again, after a hiatus that extended for nearly a month, since the curtain came down on the seventh round competitions on September 13 last year, which is the period that witnessed the holding of the Arabian Gulf Cup Championship “Gulf 27”, in which the Saudi national team was crowned champion.

The eighth round competitions will begin with 3 matches, during which Al-Nasr will look to restore its winning tone when it hosts Al-Diriyah at Al-Awal Park Stadium in the capital, Riyadh, while Al-Ahly will be a guest of Al-Fateh at Al-Oula Square Stadium in Al-Ahsa, and Al-Khuloud will host its counterpart Al-Qadisiyah at Al-Hazm Club Stadium in the city of Al-Rass.

In the match between Al-Nasr and Al-Diriyah, attention is directed towards the captain of the Al-Asmi team, the Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, after the events that accompanied the hiatus period and his departure from the Portuguese team’s camp, and the wide controversy that this sparked regarding his readiness to return to participate with his team, which was confirmed by the Australian Ange Postecoglou, Al-Nasr’s coach, and indicated his return to the team’s ranks and his readiness to participate in the confrontation.

Postecoglou said about the Portuguese star’s readiness: “Ronaldo is back, and he is ready to play,” adding regarding what happened during his time with his country’s national team: “I previously coached national teams for 4 years, and I do not like club coaches to talk about national team coaches; So I will not touch on that.”

Al-Nasr enters the confrontation while it occupies third place in the standings, looking to regain its victories after its last stumble before the break, in a draw against Al-Khaleej, with a goal for the same.

Victory over Diriyah will be enough for Al-Nasr to temporarily rise to the top of the standings, awaiting the rest of the results of the round, which witnesses an expected confrontation on Saturday between Al-Hilal, the leader with 18 points, and Al-Ittihad, which is in second place with 17 points.

The importance of the confrontation for Al-Nasr is not limited to the three points, as the team seeks to dispel the doubts that surrounded its levels before the stoppage, after it suffered a heavy loss against Al-Ain of the United Arab Emirates with a score of 4-0 in the first round of the AFC Elite Champions League, before it stumbled locally in a 1-1 draw against Al-Khaleej.

On the other hand, Diriyah goes into the confrontation with great ambitions, after showing remarkable development in terms of performance and results under the leadership of its Portuguese coach, Bruno Lage, to collect 11 points that put it in eighth place, despite its goalless draw against Abha in its last match before the stoppage.

Al-Diriyah worked to strengthen its ranks after the start of the season with a number of prominent names, led by Uruguayan striker Darwin Nunez, coming from Al-Hilal on loan, along with Frenchman Enzo Miott, coming from Al-Ahly, and Algerian Adel Boulbena.

In Al-Ahsa, the confrontation between Al-Fateh and Al-Ahly is renewed, in a meeting that fans of both teams are accustomed to witnessing excitement inside and outside the stadium, especially on social media platforms, which over the past years have witnessed repeated disputes between the two clubs.

Al-Fateh has a distinguished record against Al-Ahly in the confrontations that brought them together in Al-Ahsa, but the team’s current conditions and results since the beginning of the season put it in front of a difficult challenge to maintain its superiority in these confrontations.

Al-Fateh is in fifteenth place with 3 points, after suffering from a faltering start to the season, amid increasing news about the possibility of its national coach, Khaled Al-Atawi, leaving his position, and Moroccan Jamal Al-Salami taking over as his successor, who has prominent coaching experience, most recently with the Jordanian national team.

This atmosphere casts a shadow over Al-Fateh’s preparations, which is looking to exploit the ground staff and the public to achieve a result that restores confidence to its ranks, and gives it an important impetus to move away from the lagging positions.

On the other hand, Al-Ahly arrives in Al-Ahsa looking for the three points, and avoiding any stumble that might keep it away from the competition, especially since the confrontation comes after a long period of hiatus, which doubles the importance of quickly restoring the competitive rhythm.

During the league suspension period, Al-Ahly lost the Intercontinental Cup title to Sun Downs of South Africa, returning to local competitions with the ambition of compensation and continuing its progress in the standings.

The team, led by Dutch coach Marino Pusic, is in sixth place with 12 points, and is still close to competing for the title, in light of the closeness in points between the leading teams, and the fact that the season is still in its early stages.

Al-Ahly had ended its campaign before the stoppage with a victory over Al-Hazm with a score of 3-1, and hopes to build on that result, especially since its confrontation with Al-Fateh precedes a more difficult test when it meets Al-Nasr in the next round at Al-Jawhara Stadium in Jeddah.

In Al-Rass, Al-Khuloud receives its counterpart Al-Qadisiyah in a confrontation no less important than the rest of the round’s matches, as both teams look forward to returning to victories after disappointing results in the last round before the break.

Al-Khuloud, led by its English coach Des Buckingham, is in seventh place with 12 points, and is seeking to capitalize on the match at home to produce a positive result against a competitor who has great ambitions in the title race.

On the other hand, Al-Qadisiyah will come to Al-Rass looking forward to making up for its exciting draw against its traditional rival, Al-Ittifaq, with a score of 3-3, in a confrontation that left the team feeling frustrated after missing the chance to get the three points.

Al-Qadisiyah has 16 points, placing it in fourth place on goal difference behind Al-Nasr, and Irish coach Brendan Rodgers is counting on his team’s distinguished elements capable of making a difference, in order to overcome the obstacle of immortality and return with the three points.