Saudi team under the leadership of its Italian technical director Roberto Manchini is preparing to participate in the 2023 Asian Cup
Saudi Arabia falls within the group for the Asian Nations Cup to the vicinity of Kyrgyzstan, Thailand and Oman, where it hopes to regain its prestige as a former Asian champion after a long fasting fasting for the title of up to 28 years.
On his trip, Green will rely on his European Cup-crowned trainer Mancini 3 years ago with Italy at the expense of the landlord England.
Italy before Manchini failed for 53 years to win the European Cup of Nations, but Saudi Arabia has a much lower figure that gives it hope for the restoration of gold.
Saudi Arabia has 3 Asian Cup titles achieved through 10 previous entries, including two that came during the tournament’s first two.
During the first 5 copies of the Asian Cup, Saudi Arabia was not a member of the Asian Football Confederation, and Green subsequently withdrew from the 1976 and 1980 editions.
The Arab team has succeeded in qualifying for the final of the Continental Cup 6 times before in their first 7 Asian Cup entries between 1984 and 2007.
Green won the 1984 Asian Cup in Singapore by winning the final 2-0 against China, and repeated the achievement in 1988 in Qatar by dropping South Korea on penalties 4-3 after a negative draw in a match played on 18 December.
Saudi Arabia lost the Asian Cup title for the first time in its history in 1992, falling to the final against Japan for an unanswered goal, and the last Green title came in the 1996 edition of the United Arab Emirates, beating the hosts on penalties after a goalless draw.
The 2000 edition in Lebanon saw the Green repeated in the final against Japan with an unanswered goal, while in 2004, China, the Green was invited to contest for the first time in the first round.
In 2007, Green was close to a fourth title, but fell 0-1 against his brother Iraq in the final match of the tournament in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
8 Years Infertility
The recent period or post-2007 era saw a significant decline for the Greens in the Asian Cup, with the “Qatar 2011” version being disastrous for the Saudi team, which provided its worst version with 3 defeats and a Group B subtraction, with results of 1-2 from Syria, 0-1 from Jordan and 0-5 against Japan.
The situation did not improve much in “Australia 2015”, where the Saudi national team re-emerged from the first round with a single 4-1 win over North Korea, after losing 0-1 from China and before losing 1-3 from Uzbekistan.
