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| Abulrazaq al-Hussein - Syrian Midfielder |
Saudi Arabia's quest for a fourth Asian Cup laid in tatters on Monday after the team sacked beleaguered coach Jose Peseiro in the wake of an embarrassing 2-1 defeat to Syria in the two teams’ opening game.
The Portuguese, a former assistant to Carlos Queiroz at Real Madrid, had been under intense pressure after he failed to get Saudi Arabia to last year's World Cup. Experienced veteran Nasser Al Johar takes over.
"We have sacked Jose Peseiro after the loss and appointed Nasser Al Johar to continue our mission at the Asian Cup," said the Saudi Football Association in a statement in the wake of the humiliating defeat.
The Saudis, traditionally one of the region's best teams, had been expected to compete for the Asian Cup crown alongside the likes of Japan, Australia and South Korea, but a brace from Abdulrazak Al Husein sealed Peseiro's fate.
With Japan being held by Jordan in the other game Sunday, Al Johar, a Saudi national who has coached the national team before, has time to turn it around.
But he needs nothing less than victory in the Saudis' next game, against Jordan on Thursday.
Syria arrived at the Asian Cup with a coach who had only been in the job a few weeks, but the team stood proudly at the top of Group B.
But coach Tita Valeriu, a French-speaking Romanian, said nobody should be getting carried away just yet.
"This is only the first match and all the teams in the group still have a chance to advance to the next stage," he said. "We might have won the battle, but we haven't won the war."
"To be honest, I didn't expect this result but I expected to have a very good performance," said Valeriu after Abdulrazak Al Husein struck twice for Syria either side of Taiseer Al Jassam's 60th-minute equalizer.
"We have good players and the performance of the players was really impressive.
"I tried my best during a short period to increase the psychological motivation, the technical and also the physical aspects of the side."
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