Saudi Arabia coach Roberto Mancini has decided to exclude 7 players from the Green Falcons squad that will play against Indonesia at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, the “Shining Jewel”, in the first round of the… Qualifiers Final qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
According to the newspaper,SportsSaudi Arabia: The Italian Mancini imposed morning training in the gym on Abdul-Ilah Al-Maliki, Mohammed Al-Yami, Abdullah Al-Hamdan, Mohammed Maran, Marwan Al-Sahafi, Nasser Al-Dosari, and Mishaal Al-Subayani, indicating their exclusion from the match against Indonesia.
The Green Falcons are preparing to play the first and second rounds of the third round of the final qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, where they will play Indonesia on Thursday evening, September 5, and after 5 days they will go to meet China at Dalian Suyuan Stadium.
The Saudi national team is competing in the decisive qualifiers in the fiery third group, which includes the national teams of Japan, Australia, Bahrain, China, and Indonesia.
The decisive third round will start with the participation of 18 teams divided into 3 groups, and the first and second place teams in the final standings of each group will qualify directly for the 2026 World Cup, which means 6 seats will be decided in this round.
The fourth round will witness the participation of the teams that ranked third and fourth, and they will be divided into two groups, each group containing 3 teams, from which the first-place winners will qualify directly to the World Cup, while the second-place winners in the group stage in the fourth round will face two matches in a home-and-away system, the winner of which will go to the global play-off.
Saudi Arabia’s journey with Roberto Mancini
Roberto Mancini leads the training ofGreenSince August 2023, succeeding Frenchman Herve Renard, who left his position in March 2023; after he requested not to complete the remaining period of his contract.
Under Mancini’s leadership, the Falcons scored 23 goals and conceded 18, according to data from the website.Transfer MarketThe 59-year-old coach’s contract extends until 2027.
It is worth noting that the Italian coach led the Saudi national team during the 2024 Asian Cup competitions, last January, and was able to appear in a distinctive way in the group stage, and topped Group Six with 7 points; but the journey stopped in the round of 16 against the South Korean national team, after losing on penalties.
