Saudi Arabia's Unlikely Road to the 2022 World Cup

Saudi Arabia were among the biggest surprises of the 2018 World Cup, breezing past Egypt and Russia to finish top of their group and qualify directly to the Round of 16, where they lost 2-1 to Uruguay. Qualifying to the 2022 World Cup may prove even tougher than making it out of the Group Stage this year, but Saudi Arabia have earned their place by finishing top of Asia’s qualifying table, ahead of Japan and Australia. Here’s how they did it.

Saudi Arabia's Unlikely Road to the 2022 World Cup

Saudi Arabia is one of the newest members of soccer’s top-5. The country was awarded its first ever qualification for a World Cup in 1994, but only played in three matches and lost all three before being eliminated. In 2018, Saudi Arabia qualified for their second World Cup by virtue of being hosts and defending champions of the Asian Football Confederation. They were granted an automatic spot as hosts, but still had to qualify for their spot as champions.

Domestic football in Saudi Arabia

As one of the richest countries in the world and with a strong football tradition, it is surprising that Saudi Arabia have only qualified for one World Cup tournament. The country’s national team have only had three head coaches since 1992 and their last appearance at a World Cup was in 2006 where they were knocked out after just two matches. 

In qualifying for this year’s tournament, Saudi Arabia won six games from 10 and drew four, scoring 26 goals in total (1.6 per game) and conceding 13 (0.8 per game). They also scored more goals than any other team in Asia during 2018 with 15 of those coming against Japan.

The national team

Saudi Arabia qualified for their first ever World Cup in 1994. They lost all three games they played and failed to make it out of the group stages. But after making it to Russia 2018, they have already made history by qualifying for their second ever World Cup. 

During the qualification process, Saudi Arabia had an incredible record of 13 wins and two draws in 19 matches. Their only loss came against Qatar on October 10, 2017 in Doha. The match ended with a score of 1-0 with Ali Al-Bulaihi scoring for Qatar from a penalty kick in stoppage time.

The road to qualification

Saudi Arabia qualified for their first ever FIFA World Cup in Russia this summer. The team, which was absent from the last two tournaments, had a surprisingly good run. They were able to clinch a spot in Group A of qualifying and then defeat Thailand, who are ranked 60th in the world by FIFA. In November 2017, Saudi Arabi advanced to the final round of qualifying where they defeated Japan 3-2 on aggregate. The team had a successful finish as well; they won their final match against Australia 4-1 on aggregate and secured first place in their group with only one match left before qualification ended. Saudi Arabia will be representing Asia at Group A of the group stage along with Russia, Uruguay, Egypt, and a yet-to-be determined opponent.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, Saudi Arabia needed just one more win and three draws to qualify for the World Cup. After beating Japan 2-0 in June 2018, Saudi Arabia had only two games left in their qualification campaign. In order to reach their goal, they would need to beat Australia at home and hope that Iran did not defeat Iraq in Tehran. On September 5th of this year, Saudi Arabia defeated Australia 3-2 and qualified for their first FIFA World Cup since 2006 with a game left on their schedule. 

Saudi Arabia is an unlikely qualifier for the tournament but has now secured its place as one of 32 teams from around the world that will be competing for soccer's most coveted prize next summer.