The reporter reported coldly French coach Heinach, who replaced Mancini, led the Saudi Arabian team, which was not the strongest team, to the Gulf Cup at the end of last year, defeating Yemen and Iraq, and stopped in the semi-finals, losing two goals in the entire cup against Oman and Bahrain, who reached the final. The Saudi U20 youth team won the runner-up of the U20 Asian Cup and qualified for the U20 World Youth Championship, and Hainach said that he would recruit more new players into the Saudi team squad to bring more vitality to the Saudi team, and at the same time, he will gradually start the work of changing blood.
Last year's six matches in the round of 18 and the performance in the Gulf Cup made the Saudi Football Federation and Saudi Arabia coach Hainach realize that the team needs to be renewed. After some observation, Hainach announced that he would be recruiting more new players to the Saudi team's squad for March. Saudi Sports Channel reporters revealed that the striker Abdullah Salim and right-back Abdul Shamat of the Sehat Gulf team have received a notice from the Saudi Football Association asking them to hand in their passports, which means that they will be included in the squad for the Saudi team's training camp in March, and it also means the beginning of the Saudi team's blood change. Saudi Arabia's youth left winger Al-Haqawi, who just finished runners-up in the U20 Asian Cup, also has a chance to be in the national team squad for March.
The 32-year-old Salim has made 21 appearances in the Saudi league this season, scoring nine goals and three assists, and is the home golden boot of the Saudi league. Salim outperformed national captain Salim al-Dosari, who played for Riyadh Crescent, who had never been recruited by the Saudi national team in any age group before. The 22-year-old Abdul Shamat is just a rotation player for the Sehat Gulf team, and has been selected for the Saudi national team for the Gulf Cup in early 2023. He was a regular right-back for Saudi Arabia's Under-23s and played in last year's Under-23 Asian Cup, providing back-to-back assists against Tajikistan and Thailand in the group stage.
After the Gulf Cup exit, Hainach has decided to completely abandon the 35-year-old Riyadh Crescent defender Breihi, the 32-year-old defender Shahrani, and the 30-year-old Riyadh victory defender Ghanem to find a younger defender to improve the quality of the defensive line. Hainach wants to keep the number of homegrown players from the Saudi league's four giants as low as possible, as most of them can only be used as substitutes at the club and do not play too much minutes. The main goalkeeper of the national team, Ovas, left back Shahrani, central defender Tambakti, defender Kano, Malaki, Nasser Dosari, winger Kahtane, striker Hamdan and Al-Shehri are not the main players in the club, only the left winger, captain Salim Dosari, and the old central defender Breich, left back Bouchard, right back Ghanham and others are the main players of the club.
In addition, several players who play for other clubs that Hainach trusts, such as rotational goalkeeper Kassar (Cardassia), main center Abdullatif (Dammam cooperation) and right-back Abdul Hamid (Roma, Serie A), are not the main players of the club. Neither the midfielder Juwar (Riyadh Youth) nor the left winger Shahafi (Antwerp Roar, Liga) are from the Big Four.
Heinach has already confirmed that the March national team training camp will begin on the 16th. For this reason, the 25th round of the Saudi league will be played one day earlier and between the 13th and 15th. Riyadh's youth team will be home to the Saudi team's training ground, and the match against the national football team on March 21 was originally scheduled to be played at the larger stadium in Jeddah, but was eventually changed to the King Saud University Stadium, the home of Riyadh Victory. The Saudi team only has five days of training time, which means that even if more new recruits are called, it will be difficult for the Saudi team to make significant changes to the main lineup, at least in this game against the national football team.
Saudi media believe that Hainach is likely to use the main lineup of the Gulf Cup as a framework and make minor adjustments in individual positions, such as in the center position, Salim, the local golden boot of the Saudi league in Sehat Gulf, has the opportunity to play. The younger Bouchard will replace Al-Shahrani, and after the old centre-back Breich is dropped, Moussa (Jeddah United) and Saluli (Buraidah) are likely to be corrected.
After the Gulf Cup, Heinach had a tough time. In early February, Hainach's mother died, but he was unable to take leave to return home for his funeral. He has been scouting players in the Saudi league for two months, and his assistant coach has even watched some of the Saudi secondary leagues. Al-Faraj Faraj, the midfielder captain of the second-division Niom, was originally in Hainach's observation plan, but Faraj suffered a serious cruciate ligament rupture injury at the end of November last year, leaving the Saudi midfield with few options.
Many veterans over the age of 30 have withdrawn from the Saudi team, and goalkeeper Owass, central defender Breich, and right-back Ghanam, who have played abnormally in the Gulf Cup, have basically decided to withdraw. Despite the controversy caused by the media and fans, Hainach insisted on accelerating the rejuvenation of the Saudi team.