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What did the former goalkeeper of the Saudi Arabian national team say?
Former Al-Hilal and Saudi Arabia goalkeeper Muhammad Al-Deaya has revealed new behind-the-scenes stories about Al-Akhdar’s heavy 0-8 defeat to German counterpart Al-Akhdar at the 2002 World Cup, a game that is still considered one of the most difficult moments in Saudi football history.
Since that historic encounter, Al-Dea has been widely criticized as the goalkeeper who conceded eight goals against a strong German national team in one of the most famous games of the World Cup at the time.
Speaking on the Taba podcast, Al-Dea’i spoke candidly about the match, revealing that there were external factors that, in his view, contributed to the difficulty of the encounter and the deterioration of the big result.
The former international goalkeeper said the lighting problem inside the stadium was one of the most obvious challenges he faced during the match, explaining that the vision was far from ideal during the match.
“The lighting was all over the stadium, to the point that when I looked I couldn’t see anything clearly and this matter greatly affected my concentration during the match and I couldn’t handle the cross balls as required.”
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He noted that these circumstances made it difficult for him to make the right decisions in some shots, especially during aerial balls and passes, which are a big threat from the German side, stressing that in such big matches, small details can make a big difference in the final result.
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The match against Germany at the 2002 World Cup is one of the games most closely associated with the memories of Saudi fans, not only because of the hard-fought result, but also because it came against one of the strongest teams in the world at the time, which went on to reach the final of the tournament.
Although many years have passed since that match, it is still brought up in football discussions from time to time, especially when talking about the Saudi Arabian national team’s journey in the World Cup and the challenges it faced against the big European football schools.
Al-Di’s speech comes to reopen the file of that confrontation from another angle, as he tried to clarify some of the circumstances of the match, which he believes is one of the reasons that made the Saudi Arabian team’s task difficult in one of the strongest World Cups in history.
