Pressure builds on Saudi 2010 World Cup hopes

May 6, 2008

Saudi Arabia’s hopes of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa suffered a major setback last month when they were shocked 3-0 by Uzbekistan in Tashkent - one of the biggest upsets in the Asian Qualification section in many years.

The result, which puts real pressure on the Saudi’s qualifying aspirations, led to calls for coach Helio Cesar dos Anjos to be sacked immediately.

However, it seems that Anjos acceptance of full responsibility for the defeat has been accepted by the country’s football federation and he will be given the opportunity to turn things around.

“I take full charge for our defeat in Tashkent,” said Anjos. “It was a good lesson for us, we might have been only thinking of Australia or Japan as our main contenders to reach the World Cup finals, but we are aware now that we should respect all of our opponents.”

The coach insists he has faith in his players and will instead focus on modifying tactics instead of a mass change in personnel.”There is nothing wrong with my players,” Anjos said. “I know I am not coaching Brazil or Argentina, but I also have some of the best Asian talents. We need to alter our tactics and maybe our formation to meet our objectives.”

” Saudi Arabia is currently in the middle of a transitional period, we are depending on a youth team full of inexperienced players, and I hope they will gain the sufficient experience throughout the qualifiers.”

However the knifes are out for the national team coach with many critics convinced that Saudi Arabia have become a one-man team as they failed to recover from an early injury setback to key striker Yasser Al Kahtani during their 3-0 reverse in Tashkent.

“Yasser is an outstanding striker and there is no doubt he is one of a kind, but we have some very promising players who could fill in his place like Taysser Al Jassem. And we need to adapt to the absence of Yasser or we will face some serious trouble in these qualifiers,” Yasser’s usual strike partner Malek Moaaz said.

Qualification for 2010 South Africa is still within Saudi Arabia’s hands, but there is now real pressure on the team to turn things round quickly or avoid the heartbreak of missing out on the World Cup Finals.

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