World Cup Team Profile: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
By: Paquito Iglesias III

As the 2006 Germany World Cup Finals nears, let's take a look at one of the countries that most Filipinos will at least recognize, and perhaps some have an attachment to, Saudi Arabia.

Better known for its vast array of oil fields and as the birthplace of Islam and Osama bin Laden, Saudi Arabi ahave in recent years been qualifiers in the Fifa Finals.  After winning the Asian championships in 1984 and 1988, the Saudis decided to take soccer seriously, and poured in money to create a local professional league in order to better train their talents.  This led to their first World Cup appearance in USA 1994, in which they played brilliantly in order to advance to the second round.  Once there however, they lost to Sweden, and they haven't reached the same heights since.  They made a repeat showing in France 1998 and Korea/Japan 2002, but only managed a draw and 5 defeats in 6 matches.

Still, this year seems to bode well for the Saudis, who cruised undefeated to the qualifiers, beating 2002 semi-finalists Korea along the way both at home and away.  After breezing through Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Turkmenistan in the preliminaries, the Saudis faced their real test in the local finals.  They drew Uzbekistan 1-1 in the opening game, then shamed Korea, 2-0.  The win was a morale booste since they fared very badly in the 2004 AFC Asian Cup.  A 3-0 win against the Uzbeks sealed their ticket to the finals, and icing on the cake came in the form of a win in Seoul, defeating the home favorites 1-0.

The Saudi Arabia coach is former Argentine player Gabriel Calderon, who replaced Dutchman Gerard van der Lem following his exit after the disgrace at the Asian Cup.  Calderon, in order to raise his men's morale. Introduced an attacking style of play that paid dividends, and ensured a trip to Germany.

His squad has both youth and experience, made evident in the pairing of 34 year old Mohamed Al Jaber and 24 year old Yasser Al Qahtani.  Al Jaber led the team as well in Korea/Japan, and was recaled to duty by Calderon to act as an inspiration to the younger players.  He showed his worth by scoring 3 goals in the final qualifying round, proving that he was still a force to be reckoned with.

The Saudis are in Group H, and are playing against Spain, Tunisia, and the Ukrain.  Spain have been constant arrivals at the Wold Cup Finals, but have never won more than fourth place way back in 1950 when the tournament was held in Brazil.  They've gone through a difficult qualifier, and have much to prove in the days to come.  The Ukraine have been trying for three straight tournaments just to reach the Finals, and apparently the third time's the charm.  This will be their first world cup, and the jubilation of getting here is now being replaced by the recognition that this is the real test of skill.  Tunisia is in its 3rd consecutive Finals, after having becoming the first African team to score a win back in 1978.

The Saudis seem to have the luck of the draw, as their main rivals in the group seem to be Spain.  Still, there's no reason to discount the Ukrainians or Tunisians, and anyone who watched the 2002 World Cup knows that anything can happen.

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1 June 2006