LONDON: The Saudi Arabia team have arrived in Russia to begin their World Cup mission.

The 23-man playing squad, plus coach Juan Antonio Pizzi, his backroom staff and a Saudi Arabian Football Federation delegation led by president Adel Ezzat, landed at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport on Saturday night after a near three-hour flight from Germany. The aircraft had a giant falcon emblazoned on the side while the nose of the plane had “God Bless You” written in both Arabic and English.

Pizzi led the party off the plane to a coach where the team made the short trip to their hotel base. On Sunday, the squad had a meeting with a delegation from the World Cup organizing committee. The players will remain at their basecamp in St. Petersburg until Tuesday before flying down to Moscow on a FIFA-provided jet.

Pizzi will now spend the next few days getting his players in the right mental and physical state to play hosts Russia in the World Cup opener on Thursday. He must also decide on his starting XI ahead of their final training session at the Luzhniki Stadium on Wednesday. All eyes will then be on Thursday’s tournament opener against Russia in front of 81,000 spectactors — with more than 250 million expected to be watching on TV.

Pizzi was part of Argentina’s 1998 World Cup squad but this will be his first tournament as a coach.

“Fortunately, the players here are very malleable and have adapted to what we want from them,” the coach said in an exclusive interview with Arab News. “They know what to expect in Russia and know what we expect of them, so we are ready to perform to our best abilities. We are looking forward to the World Cup without fear.”

Saudi Arabia head into the tournament on the back of three straight defeats at the hands of Italy, Peru and Germany, but they showed enough in those games, particularly against Italy and Germany, to show they have a realistic chance of pipping Russia and Egypt to the second spot behind Group A favorites Uruguay.

Saudi Arabia’s World Cup squad:
Goalkeepers: Yasser Al-Mosaileem, Abdullah Al-Mayouf, Mohammed Al-Owais
Defenders: Osama Hawsawi, Motaz Hawsawi, Omar Hawsawi, Yasser Al-Shahrani, Mansour Al-Harbi, Mohammed Al-Burayk, Ali Al-Bulayhi
Midfielders: Abdullah Otayf, Taisir Al-Jassim, Hussein Al-Moqahwi, Salman Al-Faraj, Salem Al-Dawsari, Fahad Al-Muwallad, Yahya Al-Shehri, Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari, Mohammed Kanno, Abdulla Al-Khaibari, Hattan Bahebri
Strikers: Mohammed Al-Sahlawi, Mohannad Assiri