5 things to look out for in Saudi Arabia’s World Cup Qualifier against China in Sharjah

On Thursday, Saudi Arabia will take on China in the penultimate qualifier in the group stage of qualification for the 2022 World Cup. A win will secure a place in Qatar for Saudi Arabia with a game to spare. There are plenty of talking points and below are just five.

 1. This may be the easiest away game against China that Saudi Arabia ever have

This is not to say it will be easy but all the signs are good. First, instead of a trip to Beijing in front of 60,000 fans (or a longer and more difficult journey to Kunming, which sits 2,000 meters above sea level), there is a short ride to Sharjah — the third-country venue named due to China’s travel restrictions — and a smattering of home fans. This removes a lot of the problems from the tie. 

There’s more. China have won only one game of the eight so far, against bottom team Vietnam, and are sorely low on confidence. Team Dragon are also understrength. Much was made of the country naturalising a number of talented Brazilian attacking players to improve their chances of a second World Cup appearance.

The four who were originally selected for this trip have all pulled out as they can’t or won’t travel to the Dubai training camp to perform the necessary physical tests. Not just that but Wu Lei, by far the team’s top scorer, has been left with Espanyol in Spain to focus on his club form. The remaining foreign-based player, Li Lei of Grasshoppers in Zurich, is now injured. It leaves China short in attack and it is not surprising the team are now focusing on preparing for the 2023 Asian Cup that they are hosting.

2. The return of talisman Salman Al-Faraj

It is all falling into place for the Green Falcons: Just one win away from a sixth World Cup. In fact, even a win may not