Soccer World Cup 2002 / Saudi Arabia

This article covers the Saudi Arabian national team at the 2002 World Cup .

qualification

The Saudi Arabian team qualified for a world championship for the third time after 1994 and 1998. In the Asia zone, the two participants were determined through two different group phases.

Round 1

Saudi Arabia was seeded at the draw for the first group stage and met comparably weak teams. The first round was played as a tournament in Dammam, Saudi Arabia . Saudi Arabia clearly prevailed with a goal difference of 30: 0 and 18 points.

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Saudi Arabia	30: 0	18th
2	Vietnam	9: 9	10
3	Bangladesh	5:15	5
4th	Mongolia	2:22	1

Saudi Arabia	-	Mongolia	6: 0 (4: 0)
Saudi Arabia	-	Bangladesh	3: 0 (1: 0)
Saudi Arabia	-	Vietnam	5: 0 (2: 0)
Saudi Arabia	-	Mongolia	6: 0 (4: 0)
Saudi Arabia	-	Bangladesh	6: 0 (6: 0)
Saudi Arabia	-	Vietnam	4: 0 (1: 0)

round 2

Saudi Arabia got off to a bad start in the second round, when the team only played 1-1 against Bahrain in front of the home crowd in Riyadh , with the Saudis equalizing five minutes before the end of the season. A week later they lost 2-0 to Iran in Tehran . Only the 1-0 win against Iraq brought the Saudis back into the qualification: This was followed by victories against Thailand , Bahrain and Iraq and a draw against Iran. Before the final day of the match, Iran was in first place with a lead over Saudi Arabia. In the last few games, the Iranians lost to Bahrain, while Saudi Arabia beat Thailand 4-1 and qualified.

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Saudi Arabia	17: 8	17th
2	Iran	10: 7	15th
3	Bahrain	8: 9	10
4th	Iraq	9:10	7th
5	Thailand	5:15	4th

Saudi Arabia	-	Bahrain	1: 1 (0: 1)
Iran	-	Saudi Arabia	2: 0 (0: 0)
Saudi Arabia	-	Iraq	1: 0 (1: 0)
Thailand	-	Saudi Arabia	1: 3 (1: 0)
Bahrain	-	Saudi Arabia	0: 4 (0: 3)
Saudi Arabia	-	Iran	2: 2 (1: 1)
Iraq	-	Saudi Arabia	1: 2 (1: 1)
Saudi Arabia	-	Thailand	4: 1 (1: 0)

Saudi Arabian contingent

Number / name		Association at the time	birthday	Sp.	Gates
goalkeeper
1	Mohammad ad-Daʿayyaʿ	Al-Hilal	08/02/1972	3	0	0	0	0
22nd	Mohammed Khojali Babkr	Al-Nasr	January 15, 1973	0	0	0	0	0
21st	Mabrouk Zaid	Al-Ittihad	02/11/1979	0	0	0	0	0
Defense
12	Ahmad ad-Duchi	Al-Hilal	10/25/1976	2	0	0	0	0
2	Muhammad al-Jahani	Al-Ahli	09/28/1974	2	0	0	0	0
23	Mansour Al-Thagafi	Al-Nasr	01/14/1979	0	0	0	0	0
5	Mohsin Harthi	Al-Nasr	07/17/1976	0	0	0	0	0
13	Hussein Suleimani	Al-Ahli	01/23/1977	3	0	0	0	0
3	Rida Tukar	Al-Shahab	11/29/1975	3	0	0	0	0
4th	Abdullah Zubromawi	Al-Hilal	November 15, 1973	3	0	0	0	0
midfield
16	Khamis Al-Dosari	Al-Ittihad	09/08/1973	2	0	0	0	0
19th	Umar al-Ghamdi	Al-Hilal	09/11/1979	0	0	0	0	0
14th	Abdulaziz Khathran	Al-Shahab	07/31/1973	3	0	0	0	0
17th	Abdullah al-Wakid	Al-Shahab	29.09.1975	2	0	0	0	0
7th	Ibrahim al-Shahrani	Al-Ahli	07/21/1974	3	0	0	0	1
6th	Fawzy Al-Shehri	Al-Ahli	05/15/1980	2	0	0	0	0
10	Mohammad Al-Shalhoub	Al-Hilal	December 8, 1980	1	0	0	0	0
18th	Nawaf Al-Temyat	Al-Hilal	06/26/1976	3	0	0	0	1
8th	Mohammad Nur	Al-Ittihad	02/26/1978	2	0	0	0	1
attack
15th	Abdullah Al-Dosari	Al-Hilal	11/10/1977	3	0	0	0	0
11	Ubaid ad-Dusari	Al-Ahli	10/02/1975	1	0	0	0	1
9	Sami al-Jabir	Al-Hilal	12/11/1972	1	0	0	0	0
20th	al-Hassan al-Yami	Al-Ittihad	08/21/1972	3	0	0	0	1
Trainer
	Nasser Al-Johar		01/06/1946

Preliminary round

Saudi Arabia got off to a bad start in the World Cup finals. With 0: 8 they lost against the eventual runner-up from Germany. The Saudis also failed to score in the following two games. With 0 points and 0:12 goals they were eliminated in the preliminary round as the worst team in the tournament.

Play Saudi Arabia in the preliminary round
date	encounter	Result
June 1st	Germany - Saudi Arabia	8-0
6th of June	Cameroon - Saudi Arabia	1-0
June 11th	Saudi Arabia - Ireland	0: 3

Final score group E
rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Germany	11: 1	7th
2	Ireland	5: 2	5
3	Cameroon	2: 3	4th
4th	Saudi Arabia	0:12	0