Italy’s Roberto Mancini announced a 28-man list for the third and fourth rounds of the second round of the 2026 Asian World Cup and 2027 Asian Cup, with 28 players.
The most notable changes in the new list were the return of goalkeeper Mohamed Al-Owais, who suffered a severe injury last November and was absent from games after undergoing surgery before returning in March to participate and play with his team Al-Hilal to find himself on the “Green” list.
Yasser al-Shahrani also registered on coach Mancini ‘s list after being absent since the Al-Ahsa city camp that preceded Pakistan and Jordan’s qualifying games, before being ruled out for lack of readiness and absence since then.
The “Lakhdar” list left Hassan Timbukti away from his team’s representation in the past due to injury. Mancini’s roster, on the other hand, saw a tired war defender join the youth defender, as well as Walid Al-Ahmad, a player who had been present in a previous period before missing out on coach Mancini’s options.
On March 21, Lakhdar hosts Tajikistan at the Al-Awl Park Stadium in Riyadh, while it will be a guest at Tajikistan on March 26 at Dushanbe Central Stadium.
Mohamed Al-Owais topped the four-man goalkeeping list after his healing, readiness to play matches and participation in the two clashes against Al-Hilal in the ACL. Ahmed Al-Kassar, Raghad Al-Najjar and Mohammed Al-Yami attended his neighbourhood.
The signs of a looming goalkeeping crisis after Mohammed al-Owais and Raghad al-Najjar were injured, but their healing contributed to their reappearance of the list, thus avoiding the Saudi “green” problem of goalkeeping.
In the line of defence, Saud Abd al-Hamid, Fawaz al-Saqr, Ali al-Belehi, Ali Lajami, Aoun al-Sulli, Hassan Kadash, Walid al-Ahmad, Ryan Hamid, Yasser al-Shahrani and Mutab al-Harab attended.
In the middle of the field, the list was attended by Abdullah al-Khibri, Mukhtar Ali, Abdullah al-Maliki, Mohammed Knu, Fisal al-Ghamdi, Nasir al-Dusri, Abbas al-Hassan, Sami al-Dosari and Abdulrahman Gharib.
The Green will set up a preparatory camp in Riyadh, starting on Sunday.
It is worth mentioning that the Saudi team comes in Group VII in the second round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup and the 2027 Asian Cup, as well as the teams of Jordan, Tajikistan and Pakistan Lakhdar leads the group with 6 points after beating Pakistan and Jordan.
— إليكم قائمة المدير الفني للمنتخب الوطني @robymancio للجولتين الثالثة والرابعة من الدور الثاني من التصفيات الآسيوية لكأس العالم 2026 وكأس آسيا 2027 ⬇
🔗 https://t.co/W32BlLW10S . #الطريق_إلى_كأس_العالم2026 pic.twitter.com/4ndXVJ6qlN
— المنتخب السعودي (@SaudiNT) March 13, 2024
Saudi Arabia’s “Lakhdar” began its joint Asian qualifying campaign with valuable victories against Pakistan with a clean quartet, including two goals and Abdulrahman Gharib, as well as Abdullah Rudev, before “Lakhdar” continued his winning journey in the same qualifier with a valuable away win at the expense of Jordan with a clean double that carried Saleh al-Shahri’s signature.
Saudi Arabia’s seventh group in the second round of joint Asian qualifiers includes Tajikistan, Jordan and Pakistan; Green is at the top of the rankings with the full mark of 6 points, followed by Tajikistan in second place by 4 points, Jordan in one point and Pakistan in the group rankings with 1 point.
Mancini aspires to achieve the full mark in the two confrontations despite the significant developments shown by Tajikistan in the Asian Cup and reached the quarter-final stage with it before his farewell to the tournament by Jordan
