Saudi Arabia head coach last month – before Hervé Renard was reappointed in the role and a glow returned to the Green Falcons.
Mancini walks away from Saudi Arabia considerably richer than when he arrived 14 months earlier, but few would say that the national team is any better off.
live blog running for the T20), with bad weather settling in.
“It’s a stormy old night up here in Queensland. Intermittent power outages, intense lightning and thunder so loud that AC/DC would feel intimidated. I’m hoping to be able to watch the match, accompanied by the magnificent MBM … Either way a home win is paramount but I see this being a lot closer than some anticipate.”
Saudi Arabia since taking them to the 2022 World Cup.
Saudi Arabia tonight and Bahrain next week, as coach Tony Popovic continues to introduce fresh blood (hello Max Balard) and bring A-League stalwarts in from the cold (welcome back Rhyan Grant and Anthony Caceres).
Irankunda’s omission supposedly wasn’t about his Socceroos performance so far, but instead about allowing him time to settle in Germany while trying to break into the first team at Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.
We know he’s a young man with a lot of potential who finds himself at one of the biggest clubs in the world,” Popovic said last week. “We just feel it’s an opportunity for him to settle in at Bayern, get the development that he needs there and the growth and just settle into a new culture, new country, new language.
Australia to second place in group C, equal on five points with this evening’s opponents as well as Bahrain, though they are all five points behind runaway leaders Japan.
While the Green Falcons are equal on points with the Socceroos they are perhaps a few strides further back in their hopes of a revival after ending Roberto Mancini’s 14-month reign just three weeks ago. Hervé Renard is back in charge after leading the side to the 2022 World Cup, where they stunned eventual champions Argentina before exiting at the group stage, and was coach when Saudi Arabia frustrated the Socceroos with a 0-0 stalemate in Parramatta in 2021. The Frenchman returned to the same shores when coach of his home nation’s women’s team at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, where they were knocked out in a last-eight shootout against the Matildas.
All that sets the scene for a cagey battle where the winner will end the evening sitting in the critical second spot in the group at the halfway mark of the third round.
Kick-off is at 8.10pm AEDT. I’ll be back shortly with the line-ups and team news.
Remember to get in touch with any comments, questions, thoughts and predictions. You can shoot me an email, or find me on X @martinpegan and Bluesky @martinpegan.bsky.social. Let’s get into it!
Source: theguardian.com
