DUBAI: Saudi Arabia has taken part in six World Cup tournaments, an Arab record it shares with Morocco and Tunisia. Here are our favorite Green Falcons moments from football’s grandest stage.
5. Saudi defeat Egypt to end winless streak (Russia 2018)
Saudi Arabia returned to the World Cup after an absence of 12 years at Russia 2018 and while there would be no progress from the group stage as there was in the Green Falcons’ debut at USA 1994, there was a first win since that tournament 24 years earlier.
Saudi suffered a painful 5-0 defeat against the hosts on the opening day of the tournament and followed that up with a narrow 1-0 loss against Uruguay. It meant that while the final Group A match against fellow Arab qualifiers Egypt was a dead rubber, pride was very much still at stake.
Mohamed Salah, after a stellar season for Liverpool, gave Egypt a 1-0 lead, but deep into stoppage time at the end of the first half, Salman Al-Faraj equalized from the penalty spot.
As the clock passed the 90-minute mark it looked like both teams would be heading home without a win, but Salem Al-Dawsari scored in the 95th minute to make it 2-1 and end the Green Falcon’s 15-match winless World Cup streak.
4. Almost a perfect send-off for Sami Al-Jaber (Germany 2006)
It was almost the ideal end for arguably Saudi Arabia’s greatest ever footballer.
The 2006 World Cup in Germany may not have ended up being too fondly remembered by Saudi fans but it did provide an early moment which hinted at a repeat of the team’s 1994 heroics.
The Green Falcons’ opening match against Tunisia at the Allianz Arena in Munich saw the North African team take the lead from Ziad Jaziri after only 23 minutes but the Saudis struck back with a fine finish by Yasser Al-Qahtani on 57 minutes.
Enter Al-Jaber. Wearing his favored No. 9 green shirt, he was introduced as a substitute after 82 minutes and within moments he was bearing down on Tunisian goalkeeper Ali Boumnijel with the goal at his mercy. Al-Jaber did not disappoint, scoring Saudi’s second before being mobbed by his ecstatic teammates.
Unfortunately for the team managed by Marcos Paqueta, Tunisia equalized in the dying seconds and Saudi went on to lose their next two matches against Ukraine and Spain.
But at least Al-Jaber’s fourth and last World Cup had ended like his first, with a goal for his beloved Saudi Arabia.
3. Al-Ghesheyan stunner gives Saudi a fleeting dream (US 1994)
Saudi Arabia had already created history by progressing from the group stages at the US World Cup in 1994 and their reward was a round of 16 clash with Sweden, who would end up being one of the teams of the tournament.
In the stifling heat of Cotton Bowl in Dallas, the Green Falcons, fresh off a stunning win over Belgium in their previous match, put on brave display but found themselves two goals down after an early header from Martin Dahlin and a strike from Kennet Andersson six minutes after the break.
Just as it looked like an exhausted team was only minutes from heading home, up popped substitute Fahad Al-Ghesheyan to breathe life into Saudi Arabia’s World Cup campaign and allow the fans to dream again.
The 21-year-old collected the ball inside the Swedish penalty area and unleashed a right-foot strike into the roof of the net five minutes from time to suddenly give Saudi hope of a stunning comeback.
But just two minutes later, Andersson scored his second to give Sweden a 3-1 win and eliminate the Falcons from the competition. They had become the first Arab nation to reach the last 16 in their first attempt and no team from the region would progress further until 2022.
2. Al-Owairan scores one of the World Cup’s greatest goals (USA 1994)
To Diego Maradona’s iconic solo goal against England in 1986 and Roberto Baggio’s international career-launching strike against Czechoslovakia in 1990, you can add Saeed Al-Owairan’s remarkable winner against Belgium in 1994.
Saudi Arabia’s debut at the World Cup had ended with a 2-1 loss to reigning European champions the Netherlands at the RFK Stadium in Washington D.C., but in their second Group F match, they managed an excellent 2-1 win over Morocco at the Giants Stadium in New York.
It meant that progress to the last 16 would depend on their result against Belgium, and the Green Falcons would go on to record one of their greatest ever results back at the RFK.
Only five minutes into the match, Al-Owairan received the ball inside his own half and embarked on an astonishing run that saw one Belgian defender after another beaten, before the forward finished past stranded goalkeeper Michel Preud’homme.
The stunned Belgians had no answer to that goal in the next 85 minutes. Saudi Arabia, in their first World Cup, were heading to the last 16 and Al-Owairan had written his name alongside the World Cup greats.
1. Saudi claim greatest win over Messi’s Argentina (Qatar 2022)
There can be few debates about Saudi Arabia’s greatest World Cup moment.
Few people would have given Herve Renard’s team much hope of a victory when they took on Lionel Messi and Argentina at Lusail Stadium on Nov. 22, 2022.
And sure enough it was the Argentine maestro who gave the South Americans the lead on 10 minutes from the penalty spot. But the expected Argentinian procession did not materialize. Instead, the Falcons, through gritty defending and smart counterattacks, slowly grew into the game.
The second half would be a revelation. First Saleh Al-Shehri equalized straight after the break and just five minutes later Salem Dawsari sent Saudi and Arab fans in the stadium and around the world wild with one of the tournament’s most stunning goals.
Messi and his colleagues would go on to win the World Cup, but that day they had no answer to Saudi Arabia’s tigerish performance.
There would be no progress from the group stage for the Falcons, but the 2-1 scoreline gave them their most famous victory and they would end the tournament as the eventual world champions’ only conquerors.
