Saudi vs Tunisia: Arab brotherhood on the shelf

www.the-afc.com Football Writer Ali Al Hamdani meets a bunch of enthusiastic Saudi-Tunisia fans at Frankfurt airport on their way to Munich to watch the Arab derby today and finds out that Arab brotherhood has been put on the shelf for the next 48 hours as both sides look for a winning start to their FIFA World Cup 2006 campaign.

Saad Mohamed Al Qahtani, no relation to Saudi target man Yasser Al Qahtani, blamed Saudi coach Marcos Paqueta for leaving the team confused on the eve of the opener. S I hope we can win tomorrow as the team is confused. The main thing is teamwork and without this we cannot succeed.⬝

SIt is better if our players shed their selfishness as this will lead them nowhere,⬝ was his parting shot as he made his way towards the cafeteria.

Khaled Al Ghamdi, another fan, felt that the winning margin for the Saudis would be 1-0. SThe question of losing by a big margin like last time (8-0 to Germany) doesn”t arise as the team this time is much stronger,⬝ averred the confident Al Ghamdi.

Mohamed Falatah, meanwhile, turned out to be a strong supporter of Paqueta. SHe has prepared the Saudi team to be ready for surprises with his sudden changes. I think this will help against teams like Spain and Ukraine.⬝

Tunisian Hisni Badra said the lack of information about his national team would hinder the Saudis. SThey have no information about our team while we are very familiar with their players. But the injury to Santos, our main striker, is worrying.⬝

(the-afc.com)