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Scouting
Report
Style of play: Saudi Arabia plays an aggressive
brand of soccer, using its collective speed on the counterattack
to score against the run of the play. Coach Nasser Al-Johar
will sometimes go with three strikers up front, but
he favours a 3-5-2 formation with a trio of
defenders supported by one of the centre midfielders
playing as an attacking sweeper. The wingers press down
the flanks as much as they can and knock the ball forward
for the forwards to run onto.
Strengths:
Strong qualification -- Saudi Arabia looked very
strong in qualification, winning 11 of 14 games and
outscoring their opponents 47-8. Nations like Vietnam
and Bangladesh aren't exactly stiff competition, but
Saudi Arabia's domination in the qualifying rounds will
give them a much-needed boost of confidence.
The weather -- The World Cup will be contested
in the summer humidity of East Asia. Saudi Arabia is
used to playing in balmy conditions, and will be able
to handle the potentially stifling weather conditions
better than the Irish.
Momentum -- Saudi Arabia will be playing in its
third consecutive World Cup, a testament to its emergence
as one of the elite nations in Asian soccer. Now its
aim is to capitalize on that momentum to establish itself
on the global stage.
Weaknesses:
Skilled players -- Saudi Arabia's national team
draws it players exclusively from its domestic league.
This puts Saudi Arabia at a decided disadvantage, as
it has to rely on players with limited skill and virtually
no experience at the highest international and club
level.
Offensive attack -- Without any proven goal scorers
at the international level among its corps of strikers,
Saudi Arabia will be very hard-pressed to score goals
in Japan and South Korea.
Tough draw -- Fate was rather harsh on Saudi
Arabia, as it has been drawn into a very difficult group.
Ireland is coming off a very impressive qualifying campaign,
Cameroon was crowned African Nations Cup Champions in
February and Germany, despite all its injuries, is still
Germany, after all.
Key injuries/ squad omissions: No injuries to
report
Outlook: Drawn into Group E with Germany, the
Republic of Ireland and Cameroon, the Saudis are clearly
the weakest team of this group. They lack star power,
individual skill, depth and vision. None of Saudi Arabia's
players have any first-team experience playing in the
top European leagues, which means they will be vastly
overmatched the moment they step onto the pitch. A third-place
finish would be considered a huge success, but they'll
likely finish at the bottom of Group E.
The
Country
Location: Middle East, bordering the Persian
Gulf and the Red Sea, north of Yemen
Capital: Riyadh
Area: 1,960,582 sq km
Population: 22,023,506
Government type: Monarchy
Climate: Harsh, dry desert with great extremes
of temperature.
Ethnic groups: Arab 90%, Afro-Asian 10%.
Religions: Muslim 100%
Languages: Arabic
History: In 1902 Abdul al-Aziz Ibn Saud captured
Riyadh and tried to unify the Arabian peninsula for
the next 30 years. Saudi Arabia was transformed in the
1930s following the discovery of oil. After Iraq's invasion
of Kuwait in 1990, Saudi Arabia accepted the Kuwaiti
royal family and 400,000 refugees. It also served as
a strategic point of attack in the Gulf War, as Western
and Arab troops were deployed from its soil, leading
to the liberation of Kuwait.
The
Community in Canada
Adel Bahri is one of only a handful of Tunisians living
in Canada. Like the Saudis, their communities in Canada
consist of hundreds, not thousands. However, on the
whole, they constitute part of the much bigger Muslim
community in general.
Bahri lived in Montreal and Ottawa before moving to
Toronto in 1995 where he plays a role on and off the
field with Toronto United - one of 14 teams in the Toronto
Muslim Soccer League formed in the late 1980s. As Bahri
explains, "Soccer is a religion in the Arabic-speaking
community."
While some cafés will broadcast the games, bars are
obviously not a part of the Muslim social circuit. But
that doesn't mean people won't gather for the games.
World Cup becomes a major occasion for house visits
and other gatherings of family and friends. Some pastries
and soft drinks are the common fare and maybe some special
tea if things really get going.
This is the third time that Tunisia has qualified for
the World Cup, the first two being 1978 and 1998. In
Bahri's opinion, the 1978 team was the best. "To be
honest, I think this might just be that we play and
then go," he said with resignation.
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