Saudi Arabia lost 0-2 to Japan in the last match, in the 3rd qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia. This result made the West Asian team only get 4 points out of 3 matches, temporarily ranked 3rd in Group C. This made coach Mancini very disappointed.
He warned the Saudi Arabian players not to live on past glory and rest on their laurels. He asked them to work harder in the upcoming matches if they want to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
"We cannot live in the past, the important thing is to qualify for the World Cup regardless of the ranking. Three years ago, the situation was different. Now the squad has more young players, so we have to find a way to solve the current situation," said Mancini, who will replace Herve Renard in August 2023.
In the 3rd qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup, the Saudi Arabia team played extremely well. They had 7 consecutive wins and soon got a ticket to the 2022 World Cup, including defeating Japan 1-0 at home. At the 2022 World Cup, the West Asian team even defeated Argentina - the team that later won the championship - with a score of 2-1 in the opening match.
But now, the situation of Saudi Arabia is much more difficult. They have gone through 3 unimpressive matches: they drew 1-1 with Indonesia at home, narrowly won 2-1 with China before losing 0-2 to Japan.
Over the past three years, the Saudi Arabian Premier League (SPL) has seen a large influx of stars, accompanied by very high salaries.
The emergence of superstars such as Ronaldo, Benzema, Kante… comes with the fact that clubs are allowed to sign up to 10 non-Saudi players and field up to 8 players in each SPL match. This directly affects the playing time of Saudi Arabian players, many of whom are currently playing for the Saudi national team.
“Our only problem is that three years ago, all the Saudi players played every game in the domestic league. Now, 50-60% of the players are not playing regularly in the SPL and that is the problem we have to face,” added Mancini.
In the next round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, Saudi Arabia will continue to play at home against Bahrain.
According to the rules, the top two teams in each group will qualify for the 2026 World Cup. Meanwhile, the third and fourth-placed teams in the group will enter the fourth qualifying round.
