The first half of the confrontation of Saudi Arabia and Japan ended in the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, in a negative tie, despite the absolute Japanese hegemony over the course of the meeting.
The first minutes witnessed a great pressure from the Japanese team, as it acquired the ball by 77% compared to only 23% for Saudi Arabia, as well as the number of shots by 6 attempts on the goal, while “Al -Akhdar” was satisfied with a single shot.
The Japanese team almost opened the scoring, but the highest post tackled a strong shot from its striker, to keep Nawaf Al -Aqidi to clean his net.
Defender Jihad Zekry emerged in the back line of the green, where he managed to address three dangerous opportunities, to prevent the Japanese team from progressing before the end of the first half.
The Saudi national team entered the meeting with a squad that included Nawaf Al -Aqidi in the goalkeeper, and a defense line consisting of Nawaf Bouchel, Hassan Timbakti, Ali Lagami, Jihad Zekri, and Muhannad Al -Shanqeeti, while he was in the center Musab Al -Juwair and Faisal Al -Ghamdi, and in the attack, Salem Al -Dossary, Firas Al -Braikan, and Marwan, the journalist.
Al -Akhdar needs to modify his playing style in the second half, to come out with a positive result, especially in light of Japan’s absolute control of the match.
