….. Saudi Football Federation chief Adel Ezzat criticised the team after 5-0 defeat.
Saudi Arabia football chief has named three players to face ‘a penalty’ after disastrous World Cup defeat by Russia.
Saudi Football Federation chief Adel Ezzat criticised the team after 5-0 defeat.
Ezzat claimed result was ‘totally unsatisfactory’ and did not reflect their talent.
He said at least three players will face ‘a penalty’ for their poor performance.
Prince Turki Al-Sheikh said they have performed at ‘five per cent of expectation’.
The players will face punishment when they return home from the World Cup after their disastrous opening-day defeat by hosts Russia, according to their football federation chief Adel Ezzat.
The Middle Eastern nation were widely labelled as one of the worst to ever perform at the World Cup finals after their 5-0 defeat by Russia in the opening game of the tournament on Thursday.
While no one considered Saudi Arabia to be contenders for the trophy, Ezzat says the performance in Moscow fell well below expectation and named three players facing a ‘penalty’ for their poor performance.
‘We are very disappointed by the defeat,’ Ezzat was quoted as saying in the Al-Youm Assabaa newspaper. ‘This result is totally unsatisfactory, because it does not reflect the true level of our preparedness.
‘Several players will face a penalty – goalkeeper Abdullah Al-Mayouf, striker Mohammad Al-Sahlawi and defender Omar Hawsawi.’
It remains unclear what Ezzat means by a ‘penalty’, but the words strike a worrying chord in a country that still lives in fear of capital punishment.
There was also criticism from another government figure in the form of Turki bin Abdulmohsen Al-Sheikh, chairman of the General Sport Authority, who described the game as a ‘total fiasco’ in a video posted on his Twitter page.
