Saudi Arabia’s fourth successive appearance
Posted by Tousala | Posted in Travel and Leisure: General | Posted on 28-01-2010
Tags: International, Preview, Saudi Arabia, World Cup
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Outright percentages : 1000/1
Group H Winners : 33/1
Germany will mark Saudi Arabia’s fourth successive appearance at the world cup but they are still attempting to match the success achieved in the 1994 finals. Their debut in the States was astonishing, beating Morocco 2-1 and then Belgium 1-0 to cement a place in the second round. Striker Saeed Owairan also scored that memorable solo goal against the Belgians.
since that time, Saudi Arabia have hardly made their mark in the finals, for positive reasons, anyway. The 2002 finals saw them on the receiving end of an 8-0 drubbing against Germany in which Miroslav Klose scored 5 goals while they also finished bottom of their group in 1998. Since losing to Sweden in the last sixteen in the 1994 finals, they have endured five defeats and one draw in 6 matches.
Perhaps the Saudi Arabian royal family had a point after all as soccer was banned in the kingdom till as lately as 1951.
former Argentina international Gabriel Calderon will be keen to make amends after replacing Gerard lorry der Lem following the Saudi’s poor showing at the 2004 Asian Cup. Saudi Arabia qualified unbeaten in twelve matches, including home and away victories over South Korea.
The side conceded just two goals in 12 matches, helped by highly regarded goalkeeper Mabrouk Zaid who is regarded the best in the East. He is a deserving replacement to Mohamed Al Deayea who recorded an international record 173 caps for his country and is keen on a move to Europe. He will not have a better shop window than in Germany.
the world cup will be one final hurrah for vet playmaker Sami Al Jaber. This will be his 4th competition and he has represented his country for half of his 33 years. After netting on his debut in 1990, he became the 1st Asian player to score goals in 2 consecutive World Cups – scoring the winning goal against Morocco in 1994 to mark Saudi Arabia’s first ever finals win and in the 2-2 draw against SA in 1998. Al Jaber, came out of retirement to help with qualification and scored a couple of times in the 3-0 win against Uzbekistan.
What is likely to forestall Saudi Arabia from qualifying from Group H is an overall absence of experience against top class opposition. Only Al Jaber in his short spell at Wolves in the 2000/01 season and Fahd Al Ghashayan in a spell at AZ Alkmaar have experience of EU club football in the nation’s history.
Recommended Bet
the tournament will be a grand occasion to dependable servant Sami Al Jaber but it’s probable to be an early exit for Saudi Arabia once again. The best bet might be for them to lose all 3 matches and finish bottom of the group. Enormous hitters may not be put off by the odds-on prices for both Spain and Ukraine.
Spain to beat Saudi Arabia 1/4
Ukraine to beat Saudi Arabia 4/9.
Thinking about traveling outside of the country? Famouswonders.com can help you decide where to go on your next vacation, or you can view Jeddah.

