Saudi Arabia continues to push for international players to stay in the United States, and Indonesia will call up 14 naturalized players

The reporter reported coldly After the first round of the new Saudi league season on August 25, Saudi coach Mancini will announce the squad for the round of 18. According to the plan, the Saudi team will gather in Jeddah after the second round of the league on August 30 to prepare for the match against Indonesia on September 5.

On August 23, the Saudi side began selling tickets for the home game against Indonesia online, with a minimum ticket price of 10 Saudi riyals (about 19 yuan). The match was played at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium, the home of Jeddah United and Jeddah Nationals, with a capacity of 62,300 people, and the Saudi Football Federation hopes that the stadium will be full of fans to create a good enough home atmosphere. The Saudi Football Federation plans to play the five home games of the round of 18 in Jeddah and Riyadh.

Mancini wants the Saudi internationals to be in better shape for the national team after two league games. Roberto Mancini is accelerating the stay of Saudi internationals, with Riyadh Crescent's 25-year-old right-back Abdulhamid moving to Roma once thought it would be difficult to succeed, but Mancini used his connections to pressure the Roma city government to help solve the problem. Roma coach De Rossi made a point of calling Mancini to ask about Abdulhamid. The Arab edition of the Goal website revealed: Abdelhamid has received official offers from Reims and Toulouse in Ligue 1, Aston Villa in the Premier League and Roma in Serie A, as well as an informal inquiry from Greece giants Olympiacos, and the player himself prefers to join Roma. It is worth mentioning that FC Roma's sporting director Sissofi is also the main promoter of this deal.

In addition to Riyadh Crescent's Abdulhamid, Jeddah United will send two Saudi stars, Sahafi and Ghamdi, to Belgium this summer to spend a season on loan at Belgian side Antwerp Lions. Originally, Jeddah United did not want to let go of the two young midfield rookies. But at Mancini's insistence, he finally compromised and agreed to let the two rising stars train in the first division.

The 22-year-old Ghamdi trained in Vancouver, Canada, before returning to Saudi Arabia from Canada at the age of 19 to join Dammam Cooperative Club. He was loaned to Jeddah United by Dammam Collaboration earlier this year and has just completed his summer transfer window. Ghamdi won the 2022 U23 West Asia Championship and the U23 Asian Cup with the Saudi U23 team, and was elected as the best player in the West Asia U23 Championship. The 20-year-old came through the Jeddah United academy and gradually became a regular in the rotation last season, playing in both the Saudi league and the AFC Champions League.

Mancini recruited Ghamdi and Al-Sahafi into the Saudi national team in June this year, and underwent training in the round of 36 with seven other Under-23 players, who, along with 25-year-old Abdulhamid, became the pioneers of the Mancini era to promote Saudi internationals to Europe.

Saudi Arabia's first match in the round of 18 is against Indonesia. Indonesia coach Shin Tai Long confirmed that 26 players will be called up for the round of 18 in September, of which 14 are naturalized players who play in overseas leagues. What is certain is that there is no mixed-race centre-back Bargot who plays for Blackpool in League One on the list. Before the Under-23 Asian Cup, Bargot politely declined Shen Tailong's call-up over the phone, even though he was not playing at Bristol Rovers in League One at the time. In the round of 36 in June, Shen Tailong did not recruit Bargot, and this time Shen Tailong continued not to call Bagot. In addition, naturalized defenders Amat and Habner, who are still recovering from injuries, will also miss the September game.

Sananta

Left-back Arhan, who plays for Suwon FC in the K League, has not been affected by the affair scandal and has been confirmed in the September squad along with 21-year-old striker Sananta and three Jakarta players, Ferrari, Rido and Suleiman.

Indonesian Football Federation President Tohir convened a meeting of Shin Tai Long's coaching staff on August 21 to discuss in detail the selection of the squad for the September round of 18. The 26-man squad for the Indonesian team will be announced in the near future, and the whole team will be gathered on August 29.