The opponent of the first match of the national youth: Saudi Arabia U17 has a prominent advantage, and the main firepower points need to be guarded against

The reporter reported coldly Because the U17 World Junior Championship has been expanded to 48 teams, Asia has 8 places, and Saudi Arabia, which won the right to host the 2025 U17 Asian Cup in May last year, hopes to take advantage of the home advantage to reach the quarterfinals and realize the dream of entering the U17 World Junior Championship again after 36 years. The Saudi Football Federation has made full preparations for this, arranging training opportunities for the team to play a large number of matches against the world's strongest teams after forming the U17 national team in 2023, and hiring Brazilian coach Mario Jorge to coach after winning the hosting rights last year. Judging from the performance of the U17 West Asia Championship to a series of warm-up matches, the overall strength of the Saudi U17 team is not the top in Asia, but their home record is good, and the host factor cannot be ignored, it can be said that this Saudi U17 team will be a strong rival for the Chinese U17 team to qualify from the group.

Since the establishment of the Saudi U17 national team in the second half of 2023, the Saudi Football Association has continuously arranged for the team to warm up with world-class teams in the U17 age group to improve their actual combat ability: in the Croatian Four Nations Tournament in September 2023, the Saudi team lost to Austria and Poland and drew 2-2 with Croatia; In November 2023, he will train in Valencia, Spain, to participate in the four-nation tournament, playing against Mexico, the Netherlands and Denmark, and the Saudi team has drawn with Mexico and Denmark, 1-2.

In the West Asian Football Confederation Championship in Oman at the end of 2023, Saudi Arabia defeated Syria in the group stage, drew with Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, and defeated Iraq 2-1 in the semifinals to reach the final, but lost to Yemen on penalties and failed to win the title. In the Valencia Four Nations Tournament in January last year, the Saudi team lost 1-3 to England and Sweden, and drew 1-1 with South Korea before losing on penalties. In the Montague Invitational Tournament in France in March 2024, the Saudi Arabian team suffered unprecedented heavy losses, losing to Argentina (0-5), France (2-6), Ivory Coast (1-4) and Wales (1-3), truly seeing the huge gap with the world-class teams.

In June last year, the Saudi Football Federation hired former Flamengo coach Mario Jorge to coach the Under-17 national team, while allowing the team to participate in the 2024/25 Saudi Under-17 league as a whole to increase the players' playing experience. In September of the same year, the Saudi team participated in the West Asian Football Confederation U17 Championship, defeated Palestine in the semi-finals, and drew 2-2 with Syria in the final, losing on penalties and missing the championship again. In October and November of the same year, the Saudi U17 team warmed up with Morocco twice, and then lost 2-5 to the Dutch U17 team.

Saudi Arabia's Under-17s have played warm-up matches more frequently this year, drawing 1-1 at home to Uzbekistan at the start of the year and playing a triangular match at Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates at the end of February, beating hosts Oman 2-1 in their opening game, but then losing 4-0 to Australia and South Korea 4-2. Overall, the Saudi U17 team is basically second-rate in Asia, but the hosts' geographical advantage can greatly improve the team's strength, because the warm-up matches they play on home soil are better than when they leave home.

Saudi U17 team training in Abha in March, March 21 to 27 played three warm-up games, including 21 and 24 with Tajikistan U17 team two consecutive games, the first game won 2-0, the second game 1-1 draw, the 27th match with the Australian team is their last warm-up game before the U17 Asian Cup, the Saudi team won 4-2, the first half led 3-0, the goals were Sofiani (28th minute), Ayash (40th minute) and Dar (45+). 1 minute), and in the 80th minute, Abdullah scored the fourth goal.

The Saudi U17 team is mainly composed of players from the three giants of the Saudi league, Riyadh Crescent, Riyadh Victory and Jeddah United, as well as the dark horse Qadisiyah. The main players have basically started training and playing since the West Asian Football Confederation U17 Championship in September last year, and the lineup is relatively stable. It is worth keeping an eye on the victory from Riyadh, who broke through the England Under-17s at the beginning of last year and also scored against the Netherlands, and is definitely the main firepower of the Saudi team's attack. The 1.74m-tall nimble goalscorer scored 34 goals in a single season in the Saudi Youth League, including six hat-tricks, a performance that Saudi media said also attracted the attention of Chelsea and Liverpool scouts