The Saudi national team will play two international friendly matches against the national teams of South Korea and Uzbekistan, on the 13th and 17th of November, at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in the Qatari capital, Doha, as part of the “Green” preparation program for upcoming international matches, as part of the technical staff’s efforts to enhance the players’ readiness and determine their technical and physical levels.
The Saudi national team will begin its friendly matches by meeting the South Korean national team, on Friday, November 13, at 5:30 pm, before facing the Uzbekistan national team, on Tuesday, the 17 of the same month, at 6:30 pm, in two tests that are expected to provide the technical staff with an important opportunity to evaluate the team’s performance against two different football schools at the Asian level.
The confrontation with South Korea is of special technical importance, given the Korean national team’s international experience and technical and physical capabilities, in addition to its ability to play at a high tempo and rely on speed in offensive transitions, which gives the Saudi national team players the opportunity to test their defensive capabilities and the extent of their ability to deal with pressure during the match periods.
On the other hand, facing Uzbekistan represents a different test for the “green” team, in light of the development that Uzbek football has witnessed in recent years, and the physical strength and tactical organization that characterizes its team, which allows the technical staff to evaluate the players’ ability to deal with different defensive methods and find appropriate offensive solutions.
It is expected that the two matches will constitute an opportunity for the technical staff to try out a number of technical options, and determine the extent of harmony between the team’s lines, in addition to evaluating the readiness of the elements that may get the opportunity to participate, which will contribute to expanding the base of options available during the next stage.
The international break also represents an opportunity to address some technical aspects, especially those related to offensive effectiveness, the speed of transition between defensive and offensive states, and strengthening organization on the field, which are elements that constitute great importance in building a team capable of providing stable levels against competitors.
The two matches come at a time when the aspirations of the Saudi fans are increasing for the team to appear in an artistic way that reflects the capabilities of its players and confirms its ability to compete in international competitions, especially since such confrontations give the technical staff important indicators that go beyond the results of friendly matches to evaluating collective and individual performance.
The focus during the two Doha matches will be on the extent to which Al-Akhdar has benefited from international experiences, and his ability to translate technical work into balanced performance on the field, in light of the importance of technical stability and raising the level of harmony between the players.
The confrontations with South Korea and Uzbekistan remain important milestones in the Saudi national team’s preparation process, and an opportunity to measure the level of technical development and determine the aspects that need more work before participating in the upcoming official matches.
Al-Nasr clinched the lead in the Saudi Women’s Premier League, after deciding the summit match against its host Al-Qadisiyah with an unanswered goal on Saturday in Al-Khobar, at the end of the seventh round, which witnessed Al-Ittihad’s victory in the Jeddah derby and two victories for Al-Hilal and Al-Ula.
Nisreen Bahlouli gave Al-Nasr the winning goal, which raised its score to 18 points to finish the first half of the league competitions in the lead, two points ahead of Al-Qadisiyah, which fell to second place after suffering its first loss this season.
The confrontation brought about a direct change in the arrangement of the summit. Al-Qadisiyah entered it leading, before the sixth victory gave Al-Nasr the advantage at the end of the first leg, and kept the conflict open with Al-Qadisiyah and Al-Ittihad, which are equal on points.
In Jeddah, Al-Ittihad decided the derby match against its host, Al-Ahly, with a clean score in the match that brought them together on Friday at Al-Ahly club stadium, to emerge with one of the most prominent gains of the round and continue its presence in the lead race.
Lina Bousaha scored two goals, and Saba Tawfiq added the third goal, raising Al-Ittihad’s score to 16 points in third place behind Al-Qadisiyah on goal difference, while Al-Ahly’s score stopped at 4 points in seventh place after suffering its fifth loss.
Al-Hilal opened the round on Thursday with a 4-0 win over NEOM at Jeddah Club Stadium, with Ibtisam Jaradi scoring two goals, and Asisat Oshoala and Manar Al-Enezi scoring one each. Al Hilal raised its score to 13 points in fourth place, maintaining its proximity to the top three, while NEOM remained sixth with 5 points.
In Qatif, Al-Ula achieved the highest scoring tally in the round after defeating its host, Esperance, 5-2, on Friday, at the Esperance Club Stadium.
Al-Ula's quintet came from Auba Clement and Michel Ayyam, with two goals each, and Aya Majali, while Egybina scored the two goals for Esperance.
With this victory, Al-Ula raised its score to 9 points in fifth place, achieving its third victory, while Esperance finished the first leg in eighth place without points after losing its seven matches.
The curtain came down on the round with a total of 15 goals, and the victory of all the guest teams, while Al-Nasr, Al-Ittihad and Al-Hilal succeeded in coming out with clean sheets, so the competition entered the second leg with a difference of only two points between the leaders and their closest pursuers.
The Saudi national team's matches with South Korea are characterized by great balance and close results across 18 previous matches, during which Al-Akhdar succeeded in achieving victory in 4 matches, while losing in 5 matches, and 9 matches between the two teams were tied.
On the other hand, Al-Akhdar has a historical advantage over his Uzbek counterpart through 12 previous confrontations between them. The Saudi team decided to prevail by winning 7 matches, compared to 4 victories for Uzbekistan, and one match ended in a draw.
The next two matches within the Green Preparatory Camp in Doha will gain a special statistical dimension, as the Saudi national team will raise the tally of its historical matches on Qatari soil to 60 matches by the end of the camp, after having previously played 58 matches in Qatar, during which it was able to achieve victory in 26 matches, and settle 10 matches in draws, while losing in 22 matches.
These two experiences come within the preparatory camp scheduled to be held in Doha during the period from the eighth to the seventeenth of this month of November, within the framework of the approved international pause period in preparation for the upcoming benefits. Al-Akhdar will play his first match against the South Korean national team on the thirteenth of November, before meeting his Uzbek counterpart on the seventeenth of the same month. Both matches will be held on the grounds of Khalifa Bin Hamad Stadium, the stadium of the Qatari Al-Sadd Club.
Asharq Al-Awsat sources learned that the residence of the Saudi national team delegation will be at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in the capital, Doha, with training and preparatory exercises being limited to the serving courts during the camp period.
The technical director of the Saudi national team, the Greek Georgios Donis, had announced the call-up list scheduled to attend the camp tomorrow evening, Sunday, which included 30 players: “Mohamed Al-Owais, Hamed Youssef, Abdel Quddus Attia, Abdel-Ilah Al-Omari, Hassan Al-Tambakti, Ali Lagami, Sultan Tankar, Abdullah Al-Khatib, Nawaf Bushel, Mohamed Mahzari, Saud Abdel Hamid, And Muhammad Abu Al-Shamat, Mutaib Al-Harbi, Fares Abdi, Musab Al-Jawir, Mukhtar Ali, Muhammad Kanno, Ziad Al-Juhani, Abdullah Al-Khaibari, Nasser Al-Dosari, Abdul-Malik Al-Ayiri, Sultan Mandash, Muhammad Al-Qahtani, Marwan Al-Sahafi, Muhammad Al-Kuwaikbi, Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, Turki Al-Ammar, Abdullah Al-Hamdan, Firas Al-Braikan, and Abdullah Al Salem.
