5 things we learned from Saudi Arabia’s successful World Cup qualification journey

Saudi Arabia are heading to the World Cup for a sixth time.

On Thursday afternoon, qualification for Qatar 2022 was confirmed when Japan beat Australia 2-0 in Sydney, and later that day the Green Falcons drew 1-1 with China in Sharjah.

Herve Renard, his players and Saudi fans can now start looking forward to a winter in Doha.

Here are five things we learned about their successful qualifying campaign.

1. Such an early dead-rubber is testament to the team’s success

Saudi Arabia just had to match whatever Australia did against Japan, to book a place at a sixth World Cup. With a minute of normal time remaining, the scoreline was 0-0 but then Kaoru Mitoma, the Brighton and Hove Albion star who is currently on loan in Belgium, came off the bench and scored twice in four minutes to write himself in a place in the history of Saudi Arabian football. And that was it. Suddenly the Green Falcons were through and didn’t need anything from the match against China.

It must have been a strange atmosphere for coach Herve Renard to prepare his team for especially as there was an absence of fans in the stadium. The players had to cut short celebrations and play a game. In such circumstances, a 1-1 draw probably suited both parties. China will be happy to avoid defeat against the long-time group leaders and Saudi Arabia will not have wanted to lose against the struggling team.

Yet clinching a place at the World Cup when you still have two games left to play is something to be proud of. There were no late nerves or pressure, it was all so easy in the end.

2. Fighting point in Australia showed the spirit

There were some famous wins on the road to Qatar but it was a 0-0 draw in Sydney last November that really showed that there is a