Saudi Arabia faces Oman with “one chance”
The Saudi team lost 0-2 to its Iraqi counterpart in the second round.
From the source
The Saudi national team is facing a fateful confrontation, when it meets its Omani counterpart in the third round of Group A matches in the 25th Gulf Cup, at seven o’clock this evening, at Al-Mina Stadium, as “Al-Ahmar” ranks second with four points, while “Al-Akhdar” has it in its balance. Three points for third place.
The Saudi national team enters the meeting and has only “one chance” to qualify for the semi-finals, which is to beat Oman, regardless of the outcome of the Iraq-Yemen match in the same group, as the “Mesopotamia Lions” lead the group with four points, and “Saeed Yemen” ranks fourth without A balance of points, and any result of the two teams will not affect Saudi Arabia, while at the same time the Oman national team enters the match and has two chances to ensure qualification, which is winning any result, and the same applies to the tie result that qualifies Al-Ahmar to the golden square.
Despite the preference that the Oman national team possesses in terms of qualification accounts, in addition to facing the second row of the Saudi national team, but the return presented by Al-Ahmar against Yemen in the second round raises concern for the Croatian coach Branko Ioankovic, as Oman achieved a difficult victory over Yemen with three goals to two. While tied in the first round with Iraq without goals.
The biggest concern for Branko will be the defense errors, which emerged in the last match against Yemen, in addition to the fact that "Al-Ahmar" has two chances to qualify for the semi-finals, which may affect the performance of the players and give preference to the Saudi national team.
On the other hand, coach Saad Al-Shehri is betting on the motivation that Al-Akhdar possesses to overcome the group stage, especially since the team lost to Iraq, after the match was held in a rainy atmosphere that affected the players’ returns, while Al-Shehri seeks to repeat Saudi Arabia’s superiority over Oman, after he won « Al-Akhdar», in the last confrontation that brought together the two teams in the 2021 edition, with three goals to one.
• Oman's national team ranks second with four points, while Al-Akhdar has three points.
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