LONDON: Saudi Arabia will be nothing if not prepared by the time the World Cup comes round.
In announcing five training camps and six friendlies with the possibility of two more to come, the Saudi Football Federation (SAFF) has made it clear it is prepared to leave no stone unturned in the side's bid to qualify from the group stage for only the second time.
Having been drawn in a favorable group with Russia, Egypt and Uruguay, hopes are high in the Kingdom that, with a fair wind, they could finish in the top two. Having made the big move to dispense with a coach six months out from a World Cup and swallow all the upheaval and criticism that goes with it, the SAFF has backed the new man Juan Antonio Pizzi to the hilt and furnished him all the resources he needs to give the Green Falcons a fighting chance at the World Cup.
Pizzi won’t be able to grumble about a lack of access to the players, that’s for sure. By the time the curtain-raiser in Moscow against Russia comes round, the Argentinian will have had 65 days with his troops and the opportunity to run the rule over them in 720 minutes of football. Pizzi also has the luxury of having the full co-operation of the clubs in the Saudi Professional League and will have his squad at his disposal after the Crown Prince Cup at the end of April. Other national team coaches can only dream of that sort of time with their players. Most spend their time embroiled in a painstaking club-vs-country row and most have to be content with playing five matches at best between now and the summer. Saudi Arabia look set to play eight.
Pizzi figures he needs such an exhaustive list of friendlies to get to know the players, implement his ideas and figure out his best XI and formation. He will want to avoid a repeat of the criticism from Turki Al-AlShaikh, the chairman of the General Sport Authority, who felt “there is was “no coherence between players (no technical identity)” under his predecessor Edgardo Bauza.
Pizzi and the SAFF, particularly President Adel Ezzat, must be admired for their ambition in wanting to test themselves against the very best, the cream of Europe. Indeed four of their friendlies are against teams ranked in the top 14 in the world. Pizzi and the chiefs will figure that if they can handle themselves against Belgium, Italy and Germany then Group A, where the highest ranked opponents are Uruguay in 21st, should hold few fears. The danger is, however, that they have bitten off more than they can chew and that defeats (and worse still, heavy defeats) on the eve of the tournament against Italy and Germany could hit confidence and burst their bubble. Things did not exactly go well when they last played high-caliber opposition, losing 3-0 to a Ronaldo-less Portugal in November. The game against Germany, just eight days before the opener against Russia, could be particularly ill-timed. A hiding against the world champions, who put eight past them in 2002, would be the worst possible preparation.
There is lots of sense to the other fixtures, though, and a great deal of thinking appears to have gone into most of the schedule. The game against Iraq, in what is likely to be a lively atmosphere in Basra, will provide good preparation for the Group A collision with Egypt, although keeping tabs on Justin Meram will not quite compare to the task of shackling Mohamed Salah. The March match-up with Ukraine is as close as you are going to get to playing Russia while the Green Falcons will get experience of playing South American opposition when they play Peru, preparing them nicely for when they face Uruguay. If anything the team might be overcooked by the time June 14 comes round, although not quite as over done as the team of 2006 who played a staggering 13 friendlies in the six months before the Germany World Cup.
Pizzi is yet to take charge of a training session let alone a game but he knows his way around tournament football having coached Chile at the Copa America and the Confederations Cup. He was also at Euro 96 and the 1998 World Cup as a player. He’s been around the block. He said all the right things this week about wanting to do the Kingdom proud, “delivering achievement,” and talked of a clean slate, giving hope to the fringe players involved at the Gulf Cup and even the young bucks at the Under-23 Asian Championship. He also spoke of not “having a lot of time until the World Cup,” so it was therefore strange he eschewed the chance to lead the team at the Gulf Cup and miss out on the opportunity to get his hands dirty. He opted instead to look at the bigger picture and plan the team’s extensive World Cup preparation. The proof will be in the pudding as to whether that was the right call.