Saudi Arabia defeats Oman in the World Cup qualifiers

Branko Ivankovic’s

side faced

in the World Cup qualification games in Sultan Qaboos Stadium, and they were trying to continue their impressive run, but they were unable to control the game from the beginning of the game as the visitors kept pushing since the first minutes of the game.

Saudi Arabia had a few chances in the first twenty minutes of the game, but they failed to convert their opportunities to goals, but it wasn’t the end of the story as

Herve Renard’s

men kept pushing for a goal, and kept increasing the pressure on the home side until they found the net in the 42nd minute of the game by their number 11 player

Saleh Al Shehri

who converted

Al Muwallad’s

pass to give his side the lead in the last minutes of the first half to keep Saudi Arabia from heading into the half-time without celebration.

In the second half, the home side entered the pitch with so much ambition as they put their opposition under pressure, but with their failure in finding a way to open up Saudi Arabia’s defense, the leading side started to take control again as

players started to get tired.

Ivankovic tried to change the games’ path with substitutions, beginning from the 67th minute, but the visitors kept pushing the game towards the opposition’s goal as the game got closer to the final 10 minutes, and even with four changes in their squad, Oman players weren’t capable of competing with the opposition’s physical form, and they got less dangerous as the game got closer to the final minutes.

Saudi Arabia didn’t stop trying for more goals as they knew how fragile a one-goal lead could be, but the only thing they were able to do was creating chances and missing them one by one. Although Saudi Arabia’s attacks were not converted, they helped them keep the opposition away from their goal.

Oman finally managed to put a little pressure on Saudi Arabia’s defense line, but it wasn’t enough, and the three points went to the visitors.

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