Saudi Arabia manager Roberto Mancini has urged his players to forget about the past and focus on the task at hand as he looks to breathe life back into his team's pursuit for an automatic berth at the 2026 World Cup.
Mancini's team slipped to a 2-0 defeat to Japan in Jeddah, leaving the kingdom with a lot of work to do.
Saudi Arabia are hoping to book a spot at a third consecutive World Cup - and seventh in total. However, Mancini said his players cannot rely on historic performances anymore.
"We don't live in the past, the important thing is to qualify regardless of the ranking," said Mancini, who took over from Herve Renard last year.
"Three years ago the situation was different. Maybe the players were playing more or were younger. We have to deal with the current situation."
Under Renard, Saudi Arabia registered a famous 2-1 win over eventual champions Argentina in the teams' opening game of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Lionel Scaloni's side then went on a brilliant run that ended with victory over France in the final.
Renard resigned in March last year to take charge of France's women's team while moves to strengthen the Saudi Pro League by authorities have seen a significant influx of highly paid foreign stars.
With clubs now allowed to sign as many as 10 non-Saudi players and field up to eight in each SPL match, Mancini has been left overseeing a group of players who are not getting regular game time.
"The only problem we have, three years ago all the Saudi players played every game," said Mancini.
"Today, 50, 60 percent don't play in the game and this is the only problem that we have."
Saudi Arabia host Bahrain on Tuesday. They are level on four points with their visitors and Australia. Indonesia are a further point adrift with China bottom of the group with zero.
Only the top two finishers are certain to qualify for the finals in North America. The third and fourth-placed teams advance to a further round of preliminaries.
Meanwhile, the World Cup qualifier between Iran and Qatar has been moved to a the UAE due to security concerns, the Asian Football Confederation said.
The AFC switched the venue for Tuesday's game from the Iranian city of Mashhad to Dubai due to growing tensions in the region.
“The decision to host the match in a neutral venue was taken after careful consideration of the prevailing security situation and in consultation with FIFA and the relevant stakeholders,” the AFC said in a statement.
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Canadians living in the UAE can register to vote online and be added to the International Register of Electors.
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