FOOTBALL-SAUDITA – TELAM Agency
The Minister of Sports of Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Saud, isolated the players of the Arab team and did not let them speak to the press after losing to Costa Rica 3-1 in a friendly played in the English city of Newcastle, reported today the European press.
It was a turbulent night at St. James Park, the stadium of Newcastle, a club owned by the Saudi country’s investment fund (PIF), since Saudi’s defeat, in the debut of Italian coach Roberto Mancini, did not go down well at all. to the Asian leader.
Saudi Arabia, which gave the big surprise at Qatar 2022 by beating Argentina 2 to 1 in the World Cup debut of both teams, played very poorly and the poor image of the team caused the leaders’ anger, indicated the Sky Sports site.
That anger was clearly evident when the Minister of Sports himself isolated the team at the end of the match and prevented the footballers and the coach from addressing the press.
Saudi Arabia, which invested almost 1,000 million euros in passes for its league and is considering presenting a candidacy for the 2030 or 2034 World Cups, gave a very poor image against an experienced and skilled team such as the Costa Rican team.
Weight was not limited to sports as the people gathered in the stadium, some 5,000 fans, whistled at the Arabs as a continuation of the protests that took place around the stadium before the match over the management of the club in a country that does not respect human rights.
Next Tuesday they will play again as ‘locals’ at St. James Park against South Korea, a new opportunity to check the strained relations between the Saudi country and the people of Newcastle.
Source: Ambito
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