Roberto Mancini is coming under increasing pressure with the Saudi Arabia national team, being publicly branded a ‘coward’ and a ‘liar’ by former captain Yasser Al-Qahtani.
The Italian coach unexpectedly resigned from the Italy national team last summer before penning a lucrative three-year deal with the Saudi side. Heading into the 2024 Asian Cup, he picked up two wins, one draw and three losses in his first six matches in charge.
Saudi Arabia left it late to secure victory over Oman in their first Asian Cup group match, edging out a 2-1 win after a 96th minute winner from Ali Al-Bulayhi. The team’s performances have not proved impressive, and patience is starting to wear thin.
Speaking to BeIN Sports via Calciomercato.com, former Saudi Arabia captain Al-Qahtani publicly criticised Mancini, unhappy with the Italian coach’s squad choices and explanations.
“As players, we have gone through many situations and differences, both with coaches and players, but I have not met a person more cowardly than Mancini, a cowardly coach who has shown that he does not deserve to lead this team and that he is a disrespectful person.
“One of the qualities of a leader is that he must protect those under his management, and instead he has abandoned players whose services to Saudi football we know.
“From his statements, you know he is a liar, due to the choices of the moment, like the meeting with Al-Ghannam which took place a month ago.”
The background for this is Mancini’s unexpected squad choices for the Asian Cup. He left out Salman Al-Faraj, Sultan Al-Ghannam and Nawaf Al-Aqidi out from the Saudi Arabia squad, infuriating fans.
Speaking ahead of the 2-1 win over Oman, Mancini tried to explain why he took out the three players.
“They were on the list. Salman told me he doesn’t want to play in the friendly games. I asked Sultan if he was happy to play and he told me he wasn’t happy.
“Players don’t decide if they play or not, I decide. Nawaf told me he’d come but the day after, in Riyadh, he said he didn’t want to come. We tried to speak with him and put him on the list.
“Three days ago, he went to our goalkeeper coach and said ‘I don’t want to stay here if I don’t get to play’. I only want players who fight for their country.”
Mancini now has two group games left to try and turn things around, facing Kyrgyzstan on January 21 and Thailand on January 25.