Statistics for the Saudi green with the World Cup finals

A few days separate us from the start of the exceptional world wedding on Arab Gulf soil. Doha has achieved the Arab dream of hosting the World Cup finals, and since Saudi Arabia has the largest number of World Cup participations, we present to you some statistics for the Saudi green who is competing in the finals for the sixth time in its history, as the French Hervé Renard is the fourth foreign coach to lead the Saudi national team to the World Cup finals, after he was preceded by a German, an Argentinean and a Dutchman, and two Saudi coaches.

Saudi Arabia qualified for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, before playing the China match, after the Japanese national team defeated Australia in Sydney 2/0, two rounds before the final round of the World Cup qualifiers.

Coach Mohammed Al-Kharashi led Saudi Arabia to the 1994 World Cup finals, after the Saudi Federation decided to sack Brazilian Candino after stumbling in draws with South Korea, Japan and Iraq, achieving a single victory over North Korea, so that Al-Kharashi defeated Iran in the last round and reached the finals that were held in the United States of America.

The scenario was repeated in the 1998 World Cup qualifiers, after the Portuguese Vingada led part of the qualifiers, before his dismissal and the appointment of the German Autovester, who achieved 3 victories and a draw, to secure his place in France.

In the Korea and Japan qualifiers, Serbian Slobodan Santrach coached only two matches, between the two periods of coach Nasser Al-Johar, who succeeded in passing the first stage of the qualifiers, then returned again after losing from Iran to qualify for the finals after winning 5 matches and drawing one.

Nasser Al-Johar handed over his task to Argentine Gabriel Calderon in the 2006 qualifiers, after the Saudi coach passed the first stage.

The Dutchman Bert van Marwijk was at the head of the technical leadership of the green during the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, winning 6 confrontations, drawing one time and losing 3 matches, before qualifying against Japan.

The qualification for the 2022 World Cup is the fastest in the history of the Saudi national team, before Saudi Arabia played the last two rounds of the group, after the national team qualified in the last round 4 times before, and qualified in the penultimate round once.

In the 1994 World Cup qualifiers, the Saudi group witnessed fierce competition with South Korea and Japan until the last round, and Saudi Arabia qualified after leading the group with 7 points after two wins and 3 draws and did not lose any match, and qualification came in the last round after a 4-3 victory over Iran.

In the next qualifiers, the opponent was Iran, but Al-Akhdar succeeded in topping the group again with four wins, two draws and two losses, scoring 14 points compared to 12 for the Iranian team, and wrote the victory over Qatar with a clean goal outside the ground during the last round, qualifying for Saudi Arabia for the second time in its history.

The conflict with Iran was renewed again in the final round of the World Cup qualifiers in Korea and Japan, and Al-Akhdar repeated his lead in the group over his Iranian counterpart with 17 points to 15, and the official qualification came during the last round of the group after a broad victory over Thailand 4-1.

Fahd Al-Muwallad’s shot against Japan during the last round of the World Cup qualifiers in Russia in Saudi Arabia advanced to the finals of the tournament, after it ranked second in its group, one point behind leaders Japan.

The only qualification for Saudi Arabia came before the last round during the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, as Al-Akhdar decided to reach the penultimate round after a great victory over Uzbekistan with three clean goals, from which Sami Al-Jaber scored two goals and Saad Al-Harthy scored the other goal.

As for the top scorer for the Saudi national team in the World Cup, Sami Al-Jaber, the legend of Al-Hilal, comes in the lead with 3 goals scored in three versions, with a goal in the 1994 version, a goal in the 1998 version, and the last goal he scored was in the 2006 version.

Sami Al-Jaber opened his goals in the World Cup against the Moroccan national team in the second round of the 1994 World Cup, a match that was decided by the Saudi national team with two goals scored by Al-Jaber and Fouad Anwar.

Sami Al-Jaber returned in the 1998 World Cup to score his second goal in the World Cup against South Africa in the third round of the group stage, which ended in a positive draw with two goals for each team. Sami Al-Jaber and Youssef Al-Thunayan scored for Saudi Arabia.

Sami Al-Jaber’s last goal in the World Cup came during the 2006 World Cup with a goal he scored against Tunisia in the match that ended in a 2-2 draw, and the second goal was scored by Yasser Al-Qahtani for the Saudi national team.

Sami Al-Jaber has a historical record with the Saudi national team in the World Cup, where he scored in the tournament after 12 years between his first goal in 1994 and the last goal he scored in the 2006 edition, and he shares this record with eight other players, led by Pele, Diego Maradona, Miroslav Klose, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Fouad Anwar, the former Al-Shabab and Al-Nasr player, comes second in the list of top scorers for the Saudi national team in the World Cup, with two goals scored in one version in 1994 in the United States of America, where he opened his goal record against the Netherlands in the first round of the group stage in the 1994 World Cup, a match that Al-Akhdar lost with two goals to one. Then he returned in the same tournament to score his second goal against the Moroccan national team in the second round of the group stage in the meeting, which ended with two goals against a goal for the Saudi national team.

No other Saudi player has ever scored more than one goal in the World Cup with the exception of Sami Al-Jaber and Fouad Anwar throughout history, despite the presence of Al-Akhdar in the World Cup during 5 versions.

Saeed Al-Owairan, Fahd Al-Ghashyan, Youssef Al-Thunayan, Yasser Al-Qahtani, Salem Al-Dosari and Salman Al-Faraj each have a single goal in their account during their participation with the Saudi national team in the World Cup.

The Saudi national team scored 11 goals during its career in the World Cup and conceded 39 goals, and the 2002 Korea and Japan versions were the most goals conceded with 12 goals, while the 1994 version was the most goals scored for the Saudi national team with 5 goals.

And the achievement of the 1994 World Cup under the leadership of Argentine Jorge Solari remains the best in the history of the Saudi national team throughout its participation in the tournament, after it succeeded in qualifying from the group stage to the round of 16, where it beat Morocco with two goals to one and then beat Belgium with a clean goal to qualify to the second round with 6 points, after suffering a loss in the first round at the hands of the Netherlands, with two goals to one.

The Saudi national team met in the round of 16 with Sweden, but was defeated by three goals to one, which is the only time it reached this role. Also in the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, and he was also ranked fourth in his group in the 2006 World Cup, before he finished third in his group in the World Cup Russia 2018.

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