Doha: Following his side’s loss to Poland in their Group C match at the ongoing FIFA World Cup, Saudi Arabia coach Herve Renard said that he is proud of his team and it will play until the last second of the tournament without giving up.
Goals from Piotr Zielinski and Robert Lewandowski and a penalty save from Wojciech Szczesny gave Poland a 2-0 win in a Group C match against Saudi Arabia here at Education City Stadium.
“We are still alive,” Renard was quoted as saying by Sky Sports.
“We will play until the last second of our World Cup, if it is next time [against Mexico] or another time, we would not give up.”
“I am just proud of them. I know them perfectly now. I know they are sad. Some of them feel guilty but football is a team game.”
“Sometimes you get success, today we failed, so we are failing together. But we have one more game and I hope, a second one and maybe more. It is important to stay concentrated and think about November 30 [the game against Mexico],” concluded the coach.
After the surprise and famous win against Argentina, Saudi Arabia started off aggressively as Salem Al Dawsari’s assist helped Mohammed Al Burayk make a right-footed attempt from outside the box which was blocked.
In the 13th minute, Saud Abdulhamid assisted Mohammed Kanno to take a right-footed shot from the right side of the box to be saved in the top right corner.
Two minutes later Jakub Kiwior of Poland was shown a yellow card for a bad foul. Matty Cash got the yellow card for a foul in the next minute.
In the 39th minute, an assist from Robert Lewandowski Piotr Zielinski’s right-footed shot from the centre of the box went on to the top right corner.
Poland’s Krystian Bielik conceded a penalty after a foul in the 43rd minute. But Salem Al Dawsari failed to capitalise on this great opportunity as his right-footed shot was saved in the bottom left corner. Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny made a brilliant save and also blocked the rebound to keep his team’s lead intact.
In the second half, Saud Abdulhamid’s right-footed shot from outside the box was blocked. Mohammed Kanno’s shot also went wide.
Numerous attempts by Saudi went in vain and in the 82nd minute Robert Lewandowski scored a goal with a left-footed shot from the centre of the box. Poland went on to register a 2-0 win. They now have one win and one draw in two matches.
Saudi Arabia had more possession in comparison to Poland enjoying 64 per cent of it while the European side had only 36. Poland though had only three shots on target in comparison to Saudi who had five.
Poland played out a goalless draw with Mexico in their opening game of the tournament. With four points from two games, Poland will now face Argentina in their final match of Group C.
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