Harsh lessons taken from Saudi Arabia’s harrowing debut at World Cup 2018 fuelled a 4-0 battering of 10-man North Korea when their 2019 Asian Cup campaign got under way, according to coach Juan Antonio Pizzi.
Goals from Hattan Bahebri, Mohammed Al Fatil, Salem Al Dawsari and Fahad Al Muwallad saw the Green Falcons soar at Rashid Stadium on Tuesday. In-between, Cagliari-owned forward Han Son-kwang was sent off for two yellow cards in eight wild minutes just before the interval.
This emphatic victory in Group E provided a welcome contrast to their bow last summer when hosts Russia inflicted an embarrassing 5-0 humbling in Moscow.
“After the loss we suffered in the first game of the World Cup 2018, the team understood perfectly that they have to do everything, to do their maximum, to be organised and to obey the orders we ask of them to be a better team,” said Pizzi, who is the first tactician to win matches for the Saudis at the aforementioned global and continental competitions.
“It’s possible we might lose against other opponents, but the most important is that this is the way. And this is a plan we will follow in the next phase.”
Ex-Spain and Barcelona striker Pizzi’s charges had to show patience against a condensed North Korea, who started in a narrow 5-4-1 formation.
Al Shabab Riyadh winger Bahebri conjured the opener just before the half-hour mark with a supreme curled shot. The lead was doubled through Al Ahli Jeddah centre-back Al Fetil’s consummate back-heeled volley from a free-kick, prior to Han receiving his marching orders.
After the break, former Villarreal loanee Al Dawsari slotted home and Al Ittihad false 9 Al Muwallad made up for a plethora of misses when he smashed in from close range.
This performance made Pizzi a happy man.
The first goal scored by Hatan Bahbri earlier tonight was very historic as it was also the 1000th goal for the SaudiNT. 🇸🇦 pic.twitter.com/uXumWeKMwj
— Saudi National Team (@SaudiNT_EN) January 8, 2019
He added: “It was good to start the tournament this way, winning the game and especially with the number of goals we scored. The most important thing was we implemented our own style of play.
“We move forward with the same ambition into the next phase of the tournament.
“I’m very happy personally because normally the first game of a tournament there are nervous moments, especially since we had previous experience in Australia that we lost our first game and we didn’t want that to happen with us.
“But I’m so happy and hopefully we will continue at the same level.”
The Saudis next meet Lebanon on Saturday at Al Maktoum Stadium. North Korea play Qatar a day later at Al Ain’s Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium.
