The national team began their career in the double qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup and the 2023 Asian Cup, with a hard and hard win yesterday away to Malaysia, 2-1, after he turned his late goal very fast and early in the first minute of the game, to win precious thanks to Ali's double Absconded.
The game revealed four main reasons that stood against the team, and made it difficult for him to achieve the victory, which remains the most important in the first match in Group G qualifiers, and the first official Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk, who despite the disastrous performance in the first half, made some changes in the second half paid off With a noticeable improvement in the performance of some of the players, which enabled Al-Abyad to win and progress to the group lead behind Thailand, two games, for only one game for the team.
Al-Abyad suffered from an early goal which caused him to confuse him, besides the mistakes of the defense, not to enter the new faces quickly in the atmosphere of the game, beside the modest level of arbitration.
1. Early goal
The team received an early shock after Shafiq Ahmed scored the first goal for the Malaysian team after only 33 seconds. Somare played a ball to Matteo Davis, who turned it into an unmarked Shafiq to put the latter in goal with his head, and the «Malay Tigers» get a big moral boost, almost Through which he scores more than one goal.
2 - the line of defense
Al-Abyad's defense appeared at a modest level in the first half, almost costing him more than one goal, after he participated for the first time Al-Jazira pair Khalifa Al-Hammadi and Mohammed Al-Attas in the back line, as the coach sought to benefit from their participation and harmony with Al-Jazira, after he adopted «White» The past years on the binoculars, Ismail Ahmed and Muhannad al-Enezi.
However, captain Walid Abbas suffered in the first half against Mateo Davies, who caused great inconvenience by leading Malaysia's attacks from the right.
3. New faces
Marvik paid five new faces for the first time, mainly compared to the squad that was based on the Italian coach Zaccheroni, starting with the participation of a group of young players, who make up the future of the team in the coming years, namely: Al Wasl Ali Saleh, Al Nasr, Jassim Yacoub, and Al Wahda Khalil Ibrahim, Al Jazeera's Khalifa Al Hammadi and Mohammed Al Attas, along with Majid Sorour in the second half.
Arbitration
Japanese referee Minhiruyuki Kimura overlooked the expulsion of Malaysia's Brendan Jean after he beat striker Ali Mabkhout, as the referee merely warned the Malaysian player, which contributed to Mabkhout's nervousness and assault on Jean.
The Al Abyad player received an unnecessary warning, while the Japanese referee did not deal firmly with repeated objections from the Malaysian players, as well as provoking the national team players throughout the game.
Issa and Makhkout .. A single light point
The highlight of the team in Malaysia match was the appearance of goalkeeper Khaled Issa with his usual outstanding performance, along with the goals of Ali Mabkhout, who secured his victory in the opening of the World Cup and the Asian Cup.
Khaled Issa asserted himself as one of the most prominent stars of the game, after shining heavily against the attacks of Malaysia, where he saved a dangerous ball from Brendan Gan in the last minute of the first half, in a shot deserves to be the turning point of the game, before Issa repeats the same scene in the second minute From stoppage time in the second half, when he saved a powerful shot from the player himself, to ensure Issa to get three expensive points.
In spite of the tension that appeared to Mabkhout in the first half, he was the best players of the team, and was able to harness his experience in securing two important goals after the delay with an early goal, despite the provocations suffered by Brendan Gunn, Mabkhout responded in practice by scoring the first goal in time Decisive before the end of the first half, before adding the second goal superbly from a ball passed by Khalid Issa and passed the Malaysian defense, to put Mabkhut quietly in the net, and give «white» first three points in the qualifiers.
Coach Van Marwijk pushed five new faces in the starting line-up: Al Wasl Ali Saleh, Al Nasr, Jassim Yacoub, and Khalil Ibrahim from Al Wahda, along with Al Jazira's Khalifa Al Hammadi and Mohammed Al Attas.