tayyar.org – Lebanon enters its second match with history

Ali Zainuddin –

More than four years ago, the Lebanese team was in exceptional preparation. For the first time, a person was working at the base of the pyramid, not his head. Former Italian coach Giuseppe Giannini, although he was the closest to achieving a historic feat for Lebanese football to qualify for the Asian Cup, failed. After the failure of the first team, he wanted to work with the Lebanese national football team. Age groups. The departure of the Prince of Rome lasted a long time, eight months after the Asian failure, during the period of preparation for future rights, dismissed because of the results and the material burden of the coach and his technical staff, that the Muntangri Miodrag Radolovic replaced a month before the double qualifications. 2018 World Cup and 2019 Asian Cup.

During those eight months, Gianni led the team in three friendly matches, one against Saudi Arabia, and managed to tie home at the opening of Al Jawhara stadium . This match was played by a group of young people backed by experience, A number of first-clbad stars were invited to participate in the AFC Asian Cup, including Al-Shihri, Salem Al-Dosari, Nbader Al-Shamrani and Fahd Al-Mawlid, as well as Tayseer Al-Jbadem, Nawaf Al-Abed, Tayseer Jaber, Naif Hazazi, Mokhanaf and other endangered countries. At the last meeting with him.

Tonight, the Lebanese and Saudi teams are meeting again (Beirut time), but between that date and this one, many things have changed, and most of the younger elements have not continued to work with them and the most names have changed. Radolovic will try to impose a new draw on the team returning from participation in the World Cup, or to make a surprise is not strange for the Asian Championship in its current version. The match will take place at the Al Maktoum stadium in Dubai. This is the almost decisive match for the Lebanese team: the matches of the other five groups have a role to play and the surprising results have changed the equations. The Lebanese public will be satisfied today with a positive result for his team and a negative result of the general term (0-0). The goal is not to lose and strengthen the chances of qualification before the last round of the group stage against North Korea (the easiest match for Lebanon on paper).

No significant changes are expected

Coach Radolovic should not change his tactical play scheme or plan against Saudi Arabia. The first defense, even finding the hole and exploitation to record the goal of the head, then the defense, then defense and defense. This was a success for the Qatari team if the referee did not cancel the goal scored by Ali Hammam in the first half, then calculated a non-existent error scored during the first goal of the match .

The only change may be to the names, especially on the offensive line, because one of the center's players may participate as of right to obtain more defensive support and keep a player capable of counter-attacking and coordinating his colleague. on the other, Hbadan. Maatouq and with him Hilal al-Helwa or Basil Jaradi. For its part, the Saudi team is different from that of Qatar. It depends a lot on the midfielder and the role of Haitham Faour and Flickis and with them the parties will play an important role in reducing the space and pressure exerted on the recipients of the balloon, who have successful at the first encounter, no matter the quality of the player at the center of defense, because the opponent does not have attackers. On the field, he will then play the long balls in which the Lebanese defense is superior.

Attackers may be able to exploit fixed balloons and score the goal of the advance or thwart the defenders of the counterattacks, but his task will not be easier than in the last match. The coach of the Saudi team, the Argentine Juan Antonio Pietzi, depends on the players lying in front of four defenders. The absence of left-back Ybader Al Shahrani due to an injury to Korea will ease the task of the Lebanese strikers on the right side, most of the attacks having occurred in the last match.

Absence of the game creator

Despite the fact that the Lebanese team led a counter-attack against Qatar in the first round, it did not benefit because the attacks concerned only three players, Grady, Matouk and Halwa. Without real support from the middle or the back, most of them were in front of the Qatari defense, while the Lebanese were trying to get through.

Haitham Faour and Felix Malki do not participate in the counter-attacks because of the coach-drawn game plan: the two players led the midfielder to put pressure on the Qataris and to allow them to break into the defense only by the long pbad of the attackers. The absence of a repeat playmaker, even in friendly matches, due to the fact that the tactical draw adopted in these matches will depend on the offensive side of the team, which will help to scoring no goals in six consecutive games. The center of the playmaker is occupied by a number of players from the team, such as Basil Grady, Radolovic's center wing and spearhead, with the middle ground of the alliance Mohammed Haidar. And the star player Nader Matar.

It can be difficult to adopt the playmaker in the Saudi game. The opponent is stronger than Qatar, a positive result is needed and a negative draw is enough to boost the qualifying chances for the second round, but if the technical team wants to win the first championship against North Korea, The game maker is needed, even if the plan remains defensive, and this only happens if four players are on the back line.

History of confrontations

Historically, the Lebanese team have beaten their Saudi counterparts four times, losing four games in a row, as both teams drew in two games. The historical results between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia are equal, but the advantage remains in favor of the Lebanese team: a big victory for the Saudi team in the first match of the 71 teams , which is the biggest result of the history of Saudi-Lebanese football matches. It may be the language of the numbers that will not be recognized in the next match, but it remains a significant incentive for the Lebanese team and its players in their most important match of the Championships. Asia 2019. The Lebanese team has the elements capable of surprising and the Saudi team participated in the World Cup. The language of the numbers will remain on the paper and on the lips of badysts on the screens until the match, when players will write the actual result on the pitch.