National coach and former assistant coach of the Saudi Arabian junior team and lecturer of the Saudi and Asian Federations Hilal Al-Rifai spoke about the friendly match against Colombia, which ended in the defeat of Al-Ahdar (0:1). that the nature of the friendly matches depends on the preparation and preparation for the most important tournament, the World Cup.
In his technical analysis of Al Madina, he added, we saw the superiority of the Colombian team, but the experience was useful, especially from a technical point of view, given the approach of the Colombian team to Argentina, one of our most important participants in the World Cup in terms of his style .
And he continued, our team’s technical staff relied on the method of constructive acquisition in an attempt to impose the style of the Saudi team, but faced rigidity in midfield from the Colombian team.
Al-Rifai said he understands the fans’ state of anger at the weak level presented by Al-Akhdar, but such matches have their own philosophy in terms of creating a way to play while maintaining a consistent team identity as well as position. at the player level and provides more opportunities to detect players who have not taken advantage of this opportunity on official occasions.
Al-Rifai pointed out that one of the negative aspects that appeared in the performance of the Green Stars in this match was the weakness of the attack due to the physical strength of the Colombian national team, explaining that the coach had to guide the players in this case. attacks to be a quick one-touch game to reach the goal quickly, and at the defensive level, careful control and pressure to receive the ball had to be imposed, and this would make the team better and avoid injuries and strong friction.
In closing, Al-Rifai said: “Hopefully Herve Renard will focus on goalkeeping and not repeat the mistakes made at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, and also find more attacking solutions, as the attacking side was absent last night and during the upcoming friendly matches there is a great opportunity to discover the best in this aspect.
Overall, it was a good experience for the team and the ultimate goal is to prepare well for the World Cup in Qatar.
