Asian giants Saudi Arabia defeated the Pakistan football team by four goals to nil. However, the scoreline does not show the complete story as it was not a straightforward victory for the home side. Despite having the majority of the ball, they were unable to breach Shaheen’s defense with ease.
Saudi Arabia 4-0 Pakistan – as it happened
The match began in treacherous conditions as the rain pelted down at the Al Ahsa stadium. As expected, the home side started on the front foot by taking an early lead. In the 6th minute, Saudi Arabia’s Muhammad Maran had a crack at goal from outside the box, but he was quickly closed down by Alamgir. The ball ricocheted off the midfielder and fell into the path of Saleh Al Shehri whose left-footed shot found the back of Pakistan’s net.
After a nervy start, the Pakistan football team started to find their rhythm and created a few chances of their own. In the 15th minute of the game, Abdul Samad showed his quick feet by dribbling past the Saudi defenders and putting in a dangerous-looking cross into the six-yard box. Fareed Ullah was able to intercept his cross, but he missed time his jump and failed to direct his header toward the goal.
A few minutes later, the Shaheens had another good opportunity to level the scores, when Shayak Dost played a through ball towards Samad piercing through the middle of Saudi Arabia’s defense, but just as the striker was about to unleash his shot, Awn Al Saluli intervened and took the ball away from him.
For the remainder of the first half, the Green Falcons had plenty of possession of the ball, but they failed to capitalize and hence the half ended with a one-goal advantage for Saudi Arabia. Toward the end of the half, there was a handball shout against Abdullah Iqbal after the ball appeared to have struck his hand inside the box. But the referee did not award the plenty to the home side as his hand was close to his body and was not in an unnatural position.
Constantine would have been delighted to go into the half-time interval with just a one-goal deficit. He would have hoped that his side could drag this scoreline deep into the second half and try to score a goal on the counterattack. But all these hopes vanished when Saudi Arabia were awarded a penalty within the opening two minutes of the second half. Mamoon Musa Khan grabbed Saleh Al Shehr inside the penalty area, who made the most of the contact and went to the ground immediately, leaving the referee no option but to point towards the penalty spot.
Al Shehri then stepped up and deposited the ball in the back of the net and gave his side a two-goal cushion. Yousuf Butt guessed the right way, but he was still unable to stop the Saudi striker’s shot. After scoring the second goal, the home side started to turn the screws on Pakistan’s defense. They had plenty of goal-scoring chances, but Butt was up to the task and denied them extending their lead.
The Second Half
For much of the second half, the Pakistan football team was under the cosh and had to do plenty of defending. But they did have a few cracks at Saudi Arabia’s goal. Including Otis Khan’s brilliant solo effort to find Alamgir inside the six-yard box. It was a decent opportunity for the men in green, but he failed to hit the target as Saudi defenders put him under pressure.
Pakistan fans would have been delighted to come away from Saudi Arabia with a 2-0 defeat, but things started to fall apart during the dying stages of the game. In the 91st minute of the match, Junaid Shah slid in to stop Saud Abdulhamid on the right flank. But the Saudi midfielder showed great composure and went past Pakistan’s left back with ease. He then lobed his cross towards the penalty area and found Abdulrahman Ghareeb who deposited the ball in the goal.
Just when it seemed like the game was going to end 3-0, things got worse for the men in green. In the 96th minute of the game, Hassan Kadesh played a brilliant through ball towards Abdullah Radif, who dribbled past Rao Umar and entered the six-yard box before slotting his shot into the far corner.
Was it truly a devastating result for the Pakistan Football Team?
Getting a positive result against a team ranked 57th in FIFA Rankings was never going to be easy for the Shaheens, that too in their backyard. But Stephen Constantine would not be much disappointed with the performance of his side, as there were plenty of positives from the game. For instance, the idea to play Fareed Ullah and Abdul Samad upfront seems to be the right choice as they linked up well with each other in the first half.
Had Fareed Ullah taken his chance early on, who knows we might have seen a different scoreline. Furthermore, the new man, Imran Kayani was able to get some game time under his belt with his new teammates. The 21-year-old is strong and has got some pace to offer upfront which could come in very handy for Constantine as he plans for the rest of the FIFA World Cup qualifying games.
The Pakistan football team faces Tajikistan on 21st November at the Jinnah Football Stadium, Islamabad. Constantine would be hoping that his side could make the most of the home comfort and get some points on the board.
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