Coach Herve Renard promised his fans a different Saudi Arabia team in the crucial 24th Arabian Gulf Cup match against Bahrain at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium Saturday.
The three-time champions are hoping to bounce back after their bitter 3-1 defeat against Kuwait in the opening match.
“Football is sometimes cruel. We’ve have some inexperienced players, but I support and trust them. You’ll see a different Saudi team tomorrow,” Renard said Friday.
Renard said Saudi took the field against Kuwait with a number of new faces but assured that the AFC Champions League-winning Al Hilal players, who could not be fielded in the opening match, will feature in the starting eleven.
Saudi Arabia has not won the competition after 2004 and Renard is also looking for his first title with them.
Renard said his team’s loss in the opening match against Kuwait was not the end of the world and assured to come back with full force.
“If you look back at the history of this Cup, you will find that teams that have lost the first match have won the championship. So nothing is lost and we have our task cut out. We have to win both our matches,” the 51-year-old Frenchman said.
“We lost the first game so we have to face the challenge which lies ahead,” he said.
“We need to win if we want to qualify for the next round. Those three compulsory points are important for us,” said Renard.
“The preparations for this tournament have been tough particularly because most of the players took part in AFC Champions League. I hope the team will perform better against Bahrain,” the two-time Africa Cup of Nations-winning coach said.
Saudi has no recent happy memories in big tournaments. At the AFC Asian Cup earlier this year, they were knocked out in the last 16 by Japan, and finished bottom of their group in the 2019 WAFF Championship without a win. However, Saudis are undefeated in the World Cup and Asian Cup joint qualifiers and are one of the top teams here.
Saudi goalkeeper Fawaz al-Qarni also sounded confident and said the defeat against Kuwait is in the past now.
“We’ve to accept all the results. We lost the first game, but we want to focus on the next game. We will give our best and we’ll not disappoint the coach and fans,” said Fawaz.
Bahrain coach Helio Sousa said they will be looking for a positive result against Saudi Arabia.
“We focus on ourselves and try to improve our performance and be more aggressive. We are here to win all the games and try to move forward step-by-step. We played against the Omani team and provided a good level. We are trying to beat Saudi Arabia in order to move forward and reach as far as possible in the tournament,” Sousa said.
“All the three matches in the tournament are tough. What we have achieved against the Omani team is not bad but we failed to score, especially in the last quarter of the game. But I am very happy for the performance of the players; with Saudi Arabia we want the three points and we will work to achieve them.”
Saudi coach Herve Renard (left) and goalkeeper Fawaz al-Qarni address a press conference on the eve of their Gulf Cup match against Bahrain in Doha.
