Islamabad
\nSaudi Arabia coach Roberto Mancini has been criticised for his team selection at the Asian Cup but the Italian reiterated on Wednesday that his policy is to included young players so they can gain experience in order to build a team.
\nSaudi Arabia registered a 2-1 win against Oman in their group opener and booked their spot in the last 16 after they defeated nine-man Kyrgyzstan. They lead Group F ahead of their last match against second-placed Thailand (four points).
\nHowever, Saudi Arabia arrived in Qatar under a storm cloud of team selection after Mancini said three players opted out of the camp \u2014 a claim the players denied.
\nPlayers from the squad that famously beat Argentina at the 2022 World Cup were not picked while former Saudi skipper Yasser Al-Qahtani called Mancini a \u2018coward\u2019 for leaving behind players he said had served the national team well in the past.
\n\u201cMy policy is that the players who are ready to play will play. I have 26 players. Some are famous, others are young, but if you win it\u2019s as a team, not because of one player,\u201d Mancini told reporters ahead of Thursday\u2019s game.
\n\u201cWe need to have a strong team with a strong mentality. We need them to think they can win all games as a team together. I use players that I feel can be important now and for the future. We have a mix of some young players and senior players.
\n\u201cIn the next month we need to change and increase the number of young players for the future. For now we have to think about this tournament, which is very important for us.\u201d
\nDespite the murmurs of discontent on the outside, Mancini said the players are in good spirits in the camp as they look to win their fourth title and their first since 1996.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve managed this team for four months. Sometimes it\u2019s not enough, you need more time. But we\u2019ve improved a lot in four months and we can improve in the future,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cCan we win? I don\u2019t know, it\u2019s a long road but we want to try.
\n\u201cWe had a lot of chances in the last game and didn\u2019t score enough, we have to improve this. But it\u2019s important we\u2019re able to create chances. After that, probably we will score.\u201d
\nMancini also denied claims he said Saudi Arabia do not have a chance after naming Japan, Iran, South Korea and Australia as favourites last week.
\n\u201cI only said there are four teams \u2014 Japan, Korea, Australia and Iran \u2014 who are very high in the rankings and they have more chances to win. But I never said we can\u2019t win,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad Saudi Arabia coach Roberto Mancini has been criticised for his team selection at the Asian Cup but the Italian reiterated on Wednesday that his policy is to included young players so they can gain experience in order to build a team. Saudi Arabia registered a 2-1 win against Oman in their group opener and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382949,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-382935","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n