Roberto Mancini became the new coach of the Saudi national football team, after the Saudi Football Association announced its contract with the Italian coach, a few hours ago, a presentation conference of the new “Al-Akhtar” coach was held, in which Mancini spoke. About his new adventure and the great ambitions that lie within it.
Mancini’s contract with the Saudi federation extends to 2027, the year Saudi Arabia hosts the 19th edition of the Asian Nations Cup, and a long-term contract means the Italian coach faces major challenges in overseeing Al-Akhtar’s technical cross-section.
Preparing for the 2023 Asia Cup
The Saudi national team is preparing to participate in the Asia Cup “Qatar 2023” to be held from January 12 to February 10.
The Saudi national team will play their first match against Oman on January 16, which means Mancini will have to work quickly, firstly to find the best local players and secondly to select the squad list that has been invited to participate in Asia. finals, and preparing the third team for the tournament.
After a stellar team performance at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Saudi Arabia will enter the 2023 Asian Finals among the top contenders for the title. “Green” managed to defeat Argentina, and lost with difficulty to Poland and Mexico.
The Saudi Arabian national team’s calendar of matches this coming September includes two friendlies against Costa Rica and South Korea, and the team will also play two matches in the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, one of which is against Jordan. November.
Apart from these four matches, Mancini needs to identify some other teams to face in friendlies before the upcoming continental tournament.
World Cup Qualifiers
Mancini failed to qualify his country Italy for the 2022 World Cup and, of course, the 58-year-old coach will make up for it by qualifying for the 2026 World Cup with Saudi Arabia. In the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Saudi Arabia’s task in the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup cannot be described as difficult. With the team possessing the best collection of players, the number of Asian teams in the World Cup finals has increased to 8 directly qualifying teams, with a ninth team vying for an additional card through the global qualifiers.
That would mean more pressure on Mancini’s shoulders. Failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup finals would mean “an insurmountable defeat”, as happened when he coached Italy; As he failed to lead the team to the Qatar World Cup; But he held office with great patronage and wide powers.
Won a major championship
The Saudi national team ranks among the most important superpowers in Asian football. The team has qualified for the World Cup finals 6 times before, winning 3 titles in the Asia Cup.
However, the Saudi national team’s last major titles go back to the 1996 Asian Cup crown in the United Arab Emirates. That is, 27 years ago, the team qualified for the World Cup finals 5 times, twice as Asian Cup runner-up (2000, 2007) and fourth place in the 1999 Confederations Cup, although the team achieved good results during that period. .
Of course, Mancini will be looking to end the “big title drought” in Saudi Arabia, and the first attempt will be in the Asian Cup final in Qatar.
A generation for the future
Saudi Arabia seeks to become one of the bigger and bigger powers in world football, with a top-notch professional system. It is a global league and includes great interest in small dental fields.
The Saudi federation is counting on Mancini’s great experience in building a new generation for the country’s first team. Led by players with great experience and expertise, they have been grafted in with some of the most important emerging Saudi talent.
During Mancini’s tenure as Italy coach, he stood out for his remarkable bravery in allowing many small elements of his career to be given a chance without negatively affecting the team’s performance and results; The Italian national team, with the former Inter Milan and Manchester City coach, crowned the 2020 European Nations Cup with a display of entertaining football, Mancini’s coaching experience failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup finals. “Azzurri” can not be described as a failure.
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