How Saudi Arabian football is thriving with two big targets in sight

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Unbeaten national team are in line to qualify for Qatar World Cup and Al-Hilal are the Asian Champions League final favourites

June 1994 was a special month for Saudi Arabian football when the team went to a first World Cup and Saeed al-Owairan slalomed through the Belgium defence in Washington to send the Green Falcons into the knockout stages.

October 2021 is surely the best since, for reasons that had nothing to do with the country’s Public Investment Fund taking an 80% stake in Newcastle United. At the end of the first week, the national team, with two wins in the final round of qualification against Vietnam and Oman under their belt, defeated Japan, long regarded as Asia’s best, 1-0. Five days later, there was a thrilling 3-2 victory over China in front of 50,000 delighted fans in Jeddah.

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from Football | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/oct/28/how-saudi-arabian-football-is-thriving-with-two-big-targets-in-sight

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