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#2 Saudi Arabia
Rank: 67
Trending
Key Player: Mohammed Al-Sahlawi
The Green Falcons are back in the World Cup reckoning for the first time since 2006, but their chances remain as grim as ever. Saudi Arabia are one of Asia’s top guns, though the gulf in quality between them and the very best in the competition seems astronomic on paper at least.
Having cantered through the first round of the qualifiers, Saudi ensured a direct qualification in the second only by the virtue of a better goal difference, while their recent results in the warm-up have all ended in defeats.
Uruguay, Egypt and Russia are their group opponents, and anything other than a bottom-place finish in Group A would be a surprise.
Al-Sahlawi has witnessed a renaissance in his international career since the turn of 2015. Having played only thrice for the Gulf outfit before that, he has amassed 27 caps since 14 January 2015, also scoring 24 of his 28 international goals in that period itself.
The Al-Nassr striker was also the joint most prolific in the qualifiers with 16 goals, but most of them were against admittedly weak sides. His scoring prowess though, suggests he thrives on services and some good ones in the World Cup can help him bag a goal or two.
