Mancini in the press conference: We must play all matches at a high level

2024-03-20
16:55:04

Roberto Mancini, the coach of the Saudi Arabia national team, spoke at the press conference held this evening to talk about the Green's preparations to face Tajikistan in the third round of the second round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup and the 2027 Asian Cup.
"First of all, Ramadan Mubarak – blessed Ramadan - to everyone. This is our first match after the last Asian Cup finals, and it will be against a strong team that managed to reach advanced stages in the Asian Championship, Tajikistan players have good physical structure and advanced technical performance, so it will not be an easy match.", Mancini said.
He stressed the importance of respecting the opposing team, and said: “In football, there is no easy match. You must respect the opposing team and play all matches at a high level, and certainly our goal is to win.”
“The existing players are the best and serve my technical ideas. Some of the players we did not join the camp due to injuries, and the opportunity is still available for any player to represent the national team, if his level qualifies him to be with us.”, he said regarding the readiness of the current squad.
Regarding whether he felt concerned after the performance of the Jordanian and Tajikistan teams in the Asian Cup, he responded, “Since the beginning of the qualifiers, I have saidthat our group is difficult, and there is no doubt that we were somewhat disappointed after the Asian Cup because we presented a performance that deserved to advance to the advanced stages, but I confirm that we have a good and ready team”.
Regarding his satisfaction with offensive solutions, he said: “It is important that the team is able to create opportunities, but the process of exploiting these opportunities is what we must work on. What matters to us now is that the team is able to create opportunities.”
Regarding the failure to include the player Eid al-Mawlid in the current camp, he said: “He is a good player and has room for development, but the Olympic team has an important Asian participation in the next month, so we preferred to have him with them, and there is prior coordination for players who represent more than one team.”