He got angry and was soon replaced. Has the Al Hilal player lost Donis’ confidence ahead of the World Cup?

While the Saudi Arabian national team scored an important victory for themselves, their Greek coach Giorgos Donis and their players over Puerto Rico, it seems that one of those players was the biggest loss of the friendly game.

Saudi Arabia defeated Puerto Rico 3-0 in the early hours of Saturdayat the Q2 Stadium in his second friendly match at his United States of America camp in preparation for the 2026 World Cup finals.

Saudi journalist Nawaf Al-Aqeel in his personal account of the “X” website revealed some scenes that happened during the game, which were not good for “Al-Hilal” and the defender of the Saudi Arabian national team, Ali Lagami.

Al-Aqeel said that Lagami angered Donis in the first half of the match because the decisions he made were in the process of being made, which prompted him to talk to him a lot during this half.

Shortly after the end of the first half, the Greek coach decided to send off Ali Lagami, making his first substitution, and he was the only player to be substituted between the two halves, bringing on Ayman Yahya instead.

These signs raise questions about Al Hilal’s full-back position with Saudi Arabia at the World Cup, especially in light of the presence of Hassan Timbukti, Abdul-Ilah Al-Omari and Jihad Zikri at the heart of the defence.

Lagami is the only player without a starting position in the central back four as he comes on as a substitute for Al Hilal, unlike his counterpart Hassan Timbukti, as well as Abdel-Ilah Al-Omari for Al-Nasr and Jihad Zikri for Al-Qadisia.

It is noteworthy that the Saudi Arabian team is in the eighth group of the final stage of the 2026 World Cup, alongside the teams of Spain, Uruguay and Cape Verde, where they will begin their journey against the Latin team at dawn on June 16 this year.