It was an early exit from the Asian Cup for the Saudi Arabia coach Roberto Mancini in more ways than one. Perhaps the occasion around the second-round clash with South Korea was all too much and brought back memories of the 2020 European Championship final between his Italy team and England.
The similarities are there: one team 1-0 ahead but dropping deeper and deeper in the second half to invite a late equaliser, then falling to a penalty shootout defeat. This time in Qatar the Italian was on the receiving end and has, like Gareth Southgate, been criticised for sitting back too much. Before Hwang Hee-chan had taken the final penalty to put South Korea into the quarter-finals with a 4-2 shootout win, Mancini started walking down the tunnel. If the initial reaction in Riyadh is anything to go by, he should keep walking.
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“The coach’s exit is completely unacceptable, and we will discuss with him why this happened,” Yasser al-Misehal, the president of the Saudi Arabia Football Federation, told TV after the game. “He has the right to explain his point of view, and then we will decide the appropriate action.”
The team had been 90 seconds from a famous win over more-fancied opponents at Education City Stadium. For more than three-quarters of normal time, the Green Falcons had been the better team in a cagey clash against a star-studded South Korea. Son Heung-min and company had created almost nothing but then it all changed. Saudi Arabia’s offensive outlet Salem al-Dawsari, who scored that curling winner against Argentina at the 2022 World Cup, was taken off and the Korean pressure was relentless, with ball after ball into the box, shots flying in, desperate blocks, fine saves. Rarely has an equaliser looked so inevitable and the 99th-minute header from Cho Gue-sung, who had hit the bar minutes before from a similar position, didn’t feel overly dramatic. After that, only one team were going to win and although Korea could not finish the job in extra time, their penalties were perfect.
Pundits in Saudi Arabia said angrily that the former Internazionale and Manchester City manager would never have dared leave early if he were still with Italy, the team he walked out on in August to head to Riyadh. He apologised at the press conference, adding that he didn’t realise the game had not finished. Tension and drama can do strange things to even an experienced manager but the coaching staff were standing, arms round shoulders, looking towards the pitch, and more than 40,000 people in the stands had their eyes on the shootout too.
On social media, Mancini’s actions have been contrasted with his words from a forthright opening press conference in the 24-team tournament. The Asian Cup started with Mancini being unapologetic after leaving out three stars in Salman al-Faraj, Sultan al-Ghannam and Nawaf al-Aqidi. He accused the trio of trying to pick and choose which games they played – claims they strenuously denied. Now, he has been accused of similarly lacking commitment to the cause.
As always in football, it wouldn’t have mattered too much if Saudi Arabia had gone through and were preparing to face Australia on Friday. The three-times champions didn’t exactly impress overall but were seconds from the quarter-finals and starting to show signs of coming to the boil at the right time. After 78 minutes of the opening game, they were 1-0 down to Oman but won in dramatic fashion. A 2-0 victory over Kyrgyzstan was comfortable but mainly because their opponents had a man sent off early in each half. Then came a 0-0 draw with Thailand, a meeting between two teams already in the knockout stage. Still, just one goal group stage goal conceded – a penalty – was a platform to build on.
Mancini had stamped his authority on the team and not just in leaving out established stars. He looked beyond the big clubs for talent to give young players a chance. Against Korea, the 21-year-old Abdullah Radif came off the bench at half-time and scored within 34 seconds, and his sharpness caused problems. Against Thailand, the 16-year-old Talal Haji got on the pitch and almost got on the scoresheet. There are promising signs for the future and it was notable that even Misehal said he was satisfied with the technical performance of the team in the tournament.
Mancini too, kind of. “I am very happy, I am very sad,” he said. “I am very happy because we improved a lot. We worked one month together and this was really important. Now we are a team. It’s clear we have to improve more.” The focus is now on qualifying for the 2026 World Cup then preparing for the 2027 Asian Cup, which Saudi Arabia will host.
There’s still much to do but if Mancini wants to avoid another early exit then he may need to do a little more apologising.
