LONDON: Saudi Arabia have been told not to get ahead of themselves as they prepare to face North Korea in their Group E opener today.
The Green Falcons head into the tournament as one of the favorites to lift the trophy come Feb. 1. On the back of a first win at the World Cup — a 2-1 victory over Egypt in Russia last June — Juan Antonio Pizzi’s players have enjoyed a successful past six months, losing just once to Brazil.
But perhaps only too aware that among those results have been four draws and that this tournament has already thrown up some surprising results — the most striking of which was Jordan’s 1-0 win over Australia on Sunday — the coach has warned his side they must take it game by game to avoid an early exit.
“I am personally considering each game as an important one. The match against North Korea will be important to us,” Pizzi said.
“Once we get through them then we will focus on our next games.”
The last time Saudi Arabia played in a tournament opener it ended in an embarrassing 5-0 defeat at the hands of hosts Russia at last year’s World Cup. From that moment on it was always unlikely the Green Falcons would fly in to the knockout stages, even if improved performances in their matches against Uruguay and Egypt have proved to be a valuable springboard to this month’s Asian Cup.
With lessons learned from the showpiece in Russia and with the players’ feet ordered to be planted firmly on the ground Pizzi, while preaching caution, cut a confident figure ahead of the North Korea clash.
“(The match against North
Korea) is going to be important and personally we prepared very well for the tournament,” Pizzi said. “With trust in the team, I would like to repeat that with ambition and confidence we will hope to achieve our goals.”
The commonly used but generally accurate mantra for every coach and team heading into a tournament is to avoid defeat in the first match. North Korea, while not a continental powerhouse like their southern neighbors, are savvy operators and will likely prove obdurate opponents in their clash at Dubai’s Rashid Stadium.
That quality is not lost on the Green Falcons coach who said the standard of Asian football has risen substantially in the past few years — an improvement witnessed at the World Cup when the continent had five representatives for the first time.
“Recently Asian football had improved a lot and it would be a good tournament to participate in,” Pizzi said.
The one downside the coach has had to deal with heading into the opener is an injury to Salman Al-Faraj. The midfielder was Saudi Arabia’s standout player at the World Cup but has failed to recover in time to make the starting line-up.
“We took maximum time to decide on Salman. We tried in all manners to have him with our squad. We also appreciate the effort by Salman to try to be with us,” Pizzi said.
“Unfortunately he did not pass the final training session.”
Juan Antonio Pizzi upbeat ahead of Saudi Arabia opener against North Korea
Juan Antonio Pizzi upbeat ahead of Saudi Arabia opener against North Korea
- Green Falcons coach confident side can make statement of intent at Asian Cup.
- Pizzi's players to face North Korea in Dubai on Tuesday.
Home hero Piastri edges Antonelli in second Australian GP practice
- McLaren’s Oscar Piastri powered to the fastest time ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli in second practice for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Friday
MELBOURNE: McLaren’s Oscar Piastri powered to the fastest time ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli in second practice for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Friday as drivers grappled with sweeping new engine changes.
The Australian sent 125,000 fans at his home track into a frenzy by blasting round Albert Park in one minute 19.729secs, 0.214 clear of Antonelli.
Antonelli’s teammate, pre-season favorite George Russell, came third, a fraction clear of Ferrari’s seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
“A lot of learnings but overall a reasonably good day,” said Piastri, who won seven times last year but could only finish the championship in third.
“FP2 ran smoothly and we were able to find a bit more consistency and the car behaved more as we expected, which was good.”
After a dismal debut season with Ferrari last year, an upbeat Hamilton was encouraged by what had been achieved so far by the Scuderia.
“It was challenging at times on track, but we maximized our laps and executed to the best of our ability, getting some good information,” he said.
“Lots of work to do but I’m looking forward to getting back in the car tomorrow.”
Charles Leclerc, in the other Ferrari, was fifth with four-time world champion Max Verstappen sixth after spending half the session in the garage having stalled his Red Bull.
McLaren world champion Lando Norris clawed his way to seventh, more than one second off the pace, after managing only seven laps in first practice due to gearbox issues.
“We’ve got some good bits of data to go over from the second half of FP2 and there’s plenty we can learn from what our competitors have been doing,” said Norris, while admitting to “a tricky first day.”
Racing Bulls’ impressive rookie Arvid Lindblad banked an eye-opening eighth, a place ahead of Isack Hadjar — the man he replaced and who is now Verstappen’s teammate.
F1 begins new era
It was the first proper test of far-reaching new engine and chassis rules with the hybrid power units now 50 percent traditional combustion and 50 percent electric.
With a finite amount of energy available, drivers had to carefully manage their batteries on each lap, working out when to deploy while building it up back through braking.
The challenge of Albert Park is its long sweeping straights, which deplete batteries, and relatively few twisty turns to brake and charge it up again.
There have also been changes to the aerodynamics of the cars, which are lighter and smaller.
On a perfect Melbourne afternoon, Nico Hulkenberg led them out, but it was Hamilton who set the opening time.
Verstappen had an inauspicious start, stalling in the pit lane, while Russell clipped Lindblad on his way out and needed a new nose.
Verstappen’s car was wheeled back into the garage, apparently stuck in gear, where he stayed for almost half an hour.
The drivers started on a mix of medium and hard tires and Russell soon upstaged Hamilton as they jockeyed for places.
At the halfway mark it was Italy’s Antonelli, Russell, Hamilton and Piastri.
Russell locked up and hit the gravel at Turn 3 as he pushed hard, as did Hamilton, but they both kept enough momentum to get back on track.
Piastri blasted to the top of the timesheets on soft tires with 25 minutes left as Verstappen began climbing the leaderboard.
But the Dutchman was trying too hard and careered into the gravel at Turn 10 with debris flying off his car, ending his day early.
Fernando Alonso clocked 18 laps and Lance Stroll 13 as the troubled Aston Martins battle extreme vibration caused by the new Honda power unit.
Newcomers Cadillac — the 11th team on the grid — also struggled with Valtteri Bottas 19th and Sergio Perez last.
In first practice, Leclerc outpaced Hamilton with Verstappen and Hadjar third and fourth.
