Mancini and his Saudi Arabia win in extremis

Saudi Arabia-Oman 2-1

There was great anticipation, even in Italy, for the Asian Cup debut of Saudi Arabia, the team coached by former national team coach Roberto Mancini. In extremis came the 3 points for the boys from the Marche region, who were forced to come back against Oman, certainly not the favorite before kickoff.

The match è was played in Doha, the Qatari capital, and was unblocked after a little less than a quarter of an hour when the referee of the match, the Australian Evans, awarded a penalty kick to the Omani: to score, from the penalty spot, went Salaah Al Yahyaei, a midfielder in the force of’Al Nahda.  

It è wasnè t easy for the Mancini-boys to reach the equalizer: when discouragement was beginning to set in in the stands among the many Saudi supporters, Abdulrahman Ghareeb, Cristiano Ronaldo’s teammate at Al Nassr, took the chestnuts out of the fire. In minute 96, defender Ali Al Bulayhi scored the final 2-1 goal.