Mancini announces the final squad of the Saudi national team in the Asian Cup

Saudi national team coach Roberto Mancini announced the team’s final lineup, consisting of 26 players, to participate in the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023, which will be held from January 12 to February 10. The coach decided during the training camp currently held in the Qatari capital, Doha, to exclude four players. From the initial squad, they are goalkeeper Mohamed Al-Yami (Al-Ahly), midfielder Ali Hazazi (Al-Ittifaq), winger Khaled Al-Ghannam, in addition to striker Mohamed Maran (Al-Nasr).

The Saudi national team will play in the continental finals in Group 6, which includes Oman, Kyrgyzstan and Thailand.

The team aspires to win the tournament title for the fourth time in its history, after being crowned for the last time in 1996. It was twice eliminated from the group stage in 2011 and 2015, before being content with qualifying for the round of 16 in the last edition in 2019 in the Emirates.

During its camp in Qatar, the Saudi national team will play three friendly matches against Lebanon, Palestine and Hong Kong on the 4th, 9th and 10th of this month.

During the recent period, the team played various friendly matches against the teams of Venezuela, Bolivia, Costa Rica, the Republic of Korea and Mali. It also played two matches in the joint Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup and the 2027 Asian Cup, in which it defeated Pakistan 4-0 and Jordan 2-0, last November.

Saudi Arabia team:

– Goalkeepers: Nawaf Al-Aqidi, Raghed Najjar, Ahmed Al-Kassar

– Defense: Hassan Kadesh, Ali Al-Bulaihi, Hassan Al-Tambukti, Saud Abdel Hamid, Aoun Al-Salouli, Ali Lagami, Fawaz Al-Saqour.

– Midfield: Salem Al-Dosari, Nasser Al-Dosari, Muhammad Kanno, Abdul-Ilah Al-Maliki, Abdul-Rahman Gharib, Abdullah Al-Khabiri, Sami Al-Naji, Ayman Yahya, Abbas Al-Hassan, Mukhtar Ali, Eid Al-Mawlid, Faisal Al-Ghamdi.

– Attack: Fahd Al-Mawlid, Abdullah Radif, Firas Al-Braikan, Saleh Al-Shehri.