“Manchini’s revenge in Saudi Arabia..” The Italian website “fanpage” was thus mentioned in its comments on the decisions of the Professional Committee of the Saudi Football Federation, concerning the six players who rebelled against their coach Roberto Mancjini before the Saudi team contested the 2024 Asian Cup.
On Monday, February 12, the Professional Committee announced a variety of sanctions against a group of Saudi players who were disqualified before the Asian Championship, which recently ended with Qatar being crowned at home.
Al-Nasr guard Nawaf al-Aqaidi was sentenced to a five-month suspension with a fine of 300,000 rials. The duo Salman al-Faraj and Sultan al-Ghanam were also sentenced to a fine of 100 and 200 thousand rials respectively, while the trio Khaled al-Ghanam, Ali Hazazi and Mohamed Maran were suspended for a month.
Saudi Football Association confirms Roberto Mancini’s position
Italian website fanpage said the decisions had validated Roberto Mancini’s attitude towards rebel players, adding: “The iron fist was used against the Saudi national team players who turned on their coach before the Asian Cup.”
The Saudi Football Association supported the italian coach Roberto Mancini despite Green exiting the price of the 2024 Asian Cup final, after losing on penalties to South Korea.
For its part, the Italian newspaper Lagaseta dello Sport reported that Roberto Mancini should be satisfied after the recent decisions, as he was proved right by the Saudi Football Association.
“I hope no one asks me anymore why they are not in Qatar.”
Mancini had decided to exclude the six players from the “green” list for the 2024 Asian Cup; for disciplinary reasons, accusing them of refusing to join the “green falcons” camps, and asserting that some of them essentially required play.
Al-Sadsi appeared before the officials of the Saudi Federation to hear their statements, and their statement was taken according to the report submitted by the Saudi team’s director, Hussein al-Sadiq, and the players’ agents were present to defend their clients, after which the sanctions against the players were announced.
The Saudi team contested the continental tournament without the said hexagon, and was able to make a distinctive appearance in the group stage, finishing top of Group F with 7 points, but the “Green Falcons” march stopped at the price of the final against South Korea.
The Saudi team missed out on the Asian Cup title 28 years ago, knowing that it had taken the continental podium before 3 times in 1984, 1988 and 1996.
