Saudi Arabia loses a friendly before participating in the World Cup

The Saudi team lost to its Venezuelan counterpart 0-1 Thursday in the international friendly meeting that brought them together at the "Nueva Condomina" stadium in the Spanish city of Murcia, as part of the Arab team's preparations for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar at the end of the year.

Al-Akhdar lost its first match against Colombia with the same result on Sunday, in two matches during which French coach Herve Renard involved many players in order to stand up to their levels.

The Saudi team has never faced its Venezuelan counterpart, but it is the 25th match between the green and Latin American teams, winning only one, drawing 10 and losing 14 matches.

Saudi Arabia plays in a strong group in the World Cup finals, which begins next November, and includes Argentina, Poland and Mexico.

The Venezuelan team rushed to the attack at the beginning of the first half and was close to scoring if it wasn't for the ingenuity of Mohammed Al Owais, who blocked the header of Everton striker Salomon Rondon and turned it into the corner brilliantly (14).

After that, the green became active a little, but its attacks did not pose a danger, unlike the Venezuela team, which almost took precedence after a defensive lapse, but Yverson Sutildo's ball turned the defense into a corner (35).

And from a cross, Venezuela managed to score when Al Owais saved a header and returned to find Nahuel Ferrari, who played it strong inside the goal (36).

Al-Akhdar had an opportunity to equalize the result, but Yasser Al-Shahrani's ball passed near the post (40).

With the start of the second half, an opportunity was created for Venezuela, but the ball of John Morello, who was alone in the goal, passed near the post (48).

Al Owais saved his goal from an investigator when he blocked Rondon's ball before it returned and the defense ended its danger (53).

Renard made several changes with the entry of Sultan Al-Ghannam, Abdullah Atif and Sami Al-Najie with the aim of revitalizing the middle, but Venezuela would have added a second goal had it not been for the brilliance of Al-Owais, who blocked Rondon's header brilliantly (69).

Al-Akhdar missed a real chance to adjust when substitute Abdullah Al-Hamdan kidnapped the ball and faced the goal, but his ball was blocked by Venezuelan goalkeeper Joel Graterol (77).

Al Owais continued his brilliance when he blocked the ball from Fernando Aristegheta and turned it into the corner (88).

Al-Akhdar almost equalized the result in the last seconds, had it not been for the brilliance of goalkeeper Joel, who flew the sheep ball and turned it into a corner with difficulty.

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