Alkass Digital
Head coach Roberto Mancini wants his Saudi Arabia side to draw lessons from his Euro 2020 winning Italy team as they prepare to get their AFC Asian Cup Qatar™ 2023 Group F journey underway against Oman at Khalifa International Stadium on Tuesday.
Mancini had led a then unfancied Italy side to overcome powerhouses such as Belgium, Spain and England to win the title, and he wants his Saudi players to give their all to bring home the Asian title for the fourth time in the country’s history.
“We are here, we know we are a big team but this is also a very important tournament. We know there are many top national teams in this tournament, and we want to do our best job,” said Mancini who was only appointed as the Green Falcons boss in August 2023.
“Saudi Arabia is a very important country, but we know if we want to win the title, we need to be very strong. Football is a strange thing; things can quickly change during the tournament. For Italy during the Euros, we were only the sixth favourites, but we won it.”
An influx of foreign superstars to the Saudi Pro League last summer meant playing opportunities became limited for many members of the Saudi squad, with the likes of forward Saleh Al Shehri making only four league appearances for the club all season, but Mancini believes the group stage matches will help him overcome the challenge.
“We have many players who often don’t play in their clubs, but we had two weeks of work and we worked well. All the Oman players play regularly, but we are happy with the players that we have. We brought them because we know they are ready to fight for their country, and we will also use the first three matches to improve their situation in terms of match fitness.”
The former Inter, Manchester City and Italy boss has tweaked the team’s formation since his arrival, deploying a three-man defence in pre-tournament friendlies.
“No one knows the first XI for tomorrow, but I want only players who want to fight for their country. We could play with 3,4 or 5 defenders tomorrow, the system is not important, the important thing is the mentality with which you approach the games.”
Branko Ivankovic has solid AFC Asian Cup experience, having led Islamic Republic of Iran to the semi-finals in the 2004 edition, and he wants his Oman side to take heart from their previous encounters against Saudi Arabia to stun them on Tuesday.
“We are excited for tomorrow’s match and are honoured to be here at the AFC Asian Cup,” said Ivankovic.
“As Omanis, we come here with great passion, our initial objective is to advance past the group stage. We start against the strongest team in the group Saudi Arabia. We have played against them and against other strong teams in recent months and played really well.”
“We analysed Saudi Arabia’s matches in the qualifiers against Pakistan and also used our understanding of Mancini’s football philosophy, which is well known, but we always focus on ourselves more than we focus on the opponents. It is more important to know what we are planning to do. If we are only reactive to the opponents’ approach, we will never get good results in football.
“With all due respect to Saudi Arabia, we have proved many times that we can go toe-to-toe with any team we face, and the result will be decided on the pitch. What I want is to see the players being proud of themselves and putting in a performance that makes all Omanis proud.”
Saudi Arabia v Oman
Venue: Khalifa International Stadium (Al Rayyan)
Kick-Off: 20:30 Doha time