Al Akhdar drew with their Panamanian counterpart 1:1 in an international friendly match that took place yesterday Thursday at the Al Nahyan Stadium in the capital of the Emirates, Abu Dhabi, in Al Akhdar’s last match in the Abu Dhabi camp, as part of the third stage of the preparation program for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Panama opened the scoring first thanks to Ismail Diaz in the 9th minute and Haytham Asiri equalized for Al Akhdar in the 38th minute. This is the fifth match in a series of friendly matches that our team played in Abu Dhabi after defeating Macedonia (1-0) and a draw with Albania (1-1). No goals with Honduras, victory over Iceland with a clean goal.
Renard took part in yesterday’s match, the group of players who will represent the main force of the Greens’ final list is expected to be announced in the coming days, which will include 26 players.
The match was attended by four assistants, Lionel Scaloni, coach of the Argentina national team, who will face our national fan on November 22 at the opening of the campaign of the two teams at the World Cup in Qatar.
The first half was generally average, controlled by Saudi Arabia, while the Panamanian players relied on a quick change of attack and managed to surprise the Greens at the beginning of this half.
In the ninth minute, Christian Martinzi made a great pass to Ismail Diaz, who excelled in the speed race with the defenders of our team, and goalkeeper Mohammed Al Owais singled him out, and he delivered the ball perfectly to the left of the goalkeeper.
It took Al Akhdar some time to shake off the shock of the early goal and after imposing control of the field, he was able in the 38th minute and after a double action deep in the Panamanian defence, the ball bounced off goalkeeper Ornaldo. Mosquera, and found wingman Haytham Asiri, who hit a goal in goal to equalize Saudi Arabia.
Herve Renard started the second half by removing full-backs Muhammad Al-Buraik and Yasser Al-Shahrani, as well as using Sultan Al-Ghannam and Saud Abdul Hamid.
The second half was little changed from the first, and Saudi Arabia did not benefit from a mistake at the six-yard line after the Panamanian goalkeeper touched the ball returned to him from a colleague and Salem Al-Dosari hit the human wall, ending the match 1-1.
