Alkass Digital
Head coach Roberto Mancini singled out right-back Saud Abdulhamid for praise ahead of Saudi Arabia’s final match of Group F of the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023™ against Thailand at Education City Stadium on Thursday.
The 24-year-old is one of three outfield players who have played all 180 minutes for the Green Falcons so far and his contributions in both the defensive and attacking phases of play are evident by the fact he leads his teammates in crosses with 15 and in duels won with 17.
Mancini’s men have already qualified to the Round of 16 and need a point to secure the top spot in their group, but the Italian tactician is eager to make it three wins from three for the first time in Saudi Arabia’s AFC Asian Cup history.
“First of all I’d like to say thank you to all our fans that are here in Doha and supporting us from the beginning of the tournament and I hope they stay with us until the end,” said Mancini.
“Our target is to win now and, in this tournament, if you want to arrive at the final, you need to play against the best teams. We don’t know who we will face next, but our focus now is fully on the Thailand game, then we will think about the next one.
“The best player in terms of fitness in hard work in training is Saud Abdulhamid; his quality is incredible. We have 26 players, all of them are ready to play. We have young players who are also good players. Tomorrow morning, we will make the final decision about our starting XI. When you go through training camps, you get to know the players better. So, if I chose any player here, it means that I believed in them since before the start of the tournament
“It will be a tough game because Thailand play very good football. We are OK overall, maybe some problems, but no big problems. We want to try to recover all players by tomorrow to be ready on time.”
Thailand, alongside hosts Qatar, are one of two teams who are yet to concede a goal in the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023, and with four points collected from their first two games, they are in pole position to accompany Saudi Arabia into the next round from Group F, but for head coach Masatada Ishii, finding the right balance will be key to getting a result on Thursday.
“Saudi play a good defensive team with a high tempo and a high quality of players in their team that we need to be aware of,” said Ishii who was only appointed in November 2023.
“They are fast, strong and their speed of transition is good. It is an opportunity to show ourselves in front of strong opponents and also in front of our own Thai fans here and and back at home.”
“There will be high expectations from both teams as they are one of the most successful teams. We will play a defensive game and we have to continue our consistency defensively and also try to create as many chances as possible.
“Of course, we definitely try to see other group results to understand our chances, but we also focus on ourselves in terms of preparing for the match and ensuring we play the best possible way."
Saudi Arabia v Thailand
Venue: Education City Stadium (Al Rayyan)
Kick-off: 18:00 (UTC+3)