As a traditional powerhouse in Asian football, Saudi Arabia's recent performance has undoubtedly disappointed many fans. In the Asian qualifiers for the World Cup, they only managed to secure one victory against China, with the remaining five matches ending in either draws or defeats, causing their ranking to temporarily slip to fourth in the group. Due to the team's poor performance, Italian coach Mancini was forced to relinquish his position, and Saudi Arabia's meritorious coach Herve Renard took over the reins for the second time in a crisis.
Unfortunately, it seems that Saudi Arabia's problems are not just about changing coaches. In the recently started Gulf Cup, Saudi Arabia suffered another defeat, losing 2-3 to Bahrain, a team from West Asia but far behind them in world rankings. This embarrassing two consecutive losses in official matches left Saudi football in desperate need of an easy opponent to boost team morale. Coincidentally, they met Yemen, the weakest team in this Gulf Cup.
In the latest FIFA rankings, Yemen is ranked only 158th, even lower than the Philippines and Hong Kong, China. It's no exaggeration to call them the "minnow" of Asian football. However, in this seemingly mismatched encounter, Saudi Arabia almost stumbled again! The deadlock on the field was broken just 8 minutes into the game, but it was Yemen who scored. Taking advantage of a corner kick opportunity, Yemen's central defender Zubaydi headed the ball into the net, surprisingly taking a 1-0 lead!
In the subsequent match, Saudi Arabia launched a furious counterattack, unwilling to fall behind. However, their aggressive push also exposed more gaps in their defense. In the 28th minute, Saudi Arabia's defender Breshi made a low-level mistake in the backfield pass, and Yemen's forward Sallam Al-Sabah took advantage of the gift, shooting past the goalkeeper to unbelievably extend the score to 2-0! However, Saudi Arabia's strength is far superior to Yemen, and just 2 minutes later, they pulled one back through a free-kick by Al-Kanu, reducing the gap to one goal.
After the break, Saudi Arabia continued their fierce attack, turning the match into a half-field offensive and defensive drill at times. In the 52nd minute, a cross from Saudi Arabia's penalty area caused a handball foul by Yemen's defender, and the referee awarded a penalty after reviewing the video. Jowairiya calmly converted the penalty, helping Saudi Arabia level the score at 2-2! With the score back to a draw, Saudi Arabia's attacks intensified, and in the third minute of stoppage time, Breshi made amends with a header assist from a corner kick, and Hamdan easily tapped the ball into the empty net, making it 3-2! Saudi Arabia successfully completed the feat of coming back from two goals down to win their first victory in this Gulf Cup with a thrilling victory!
Although Saudi Arabia eventually won the match, their performance was far from impressive. Against such an Asian weakling as Yemen, they could still concede two goals, making it not an impossible task for the national team to defeat Saudi Arabia away from home!