RIYADH — The Green Falcons, the Saudi national squad for the World Cup 2022, arrived in Qatar on Wednesday. The entire team members and technical and administrative staff, including Coach Hervé Renard and other foreign officials, captivated attention of all when they landed in Doha, wearing the traditional Saudi garb of white thobe and Shemagh. This demonstrated the national pride and glory of the national team, which is playing the World Cup finals for the sixth time in its history, and this time, it is in the neighboring Gulf country of Qatar. The Green Falcons will meet Argentina in the opening game of Group C on Tuesday, Nov. 22. The Saudi team's other matches in the group will be with Poland and Mexico. The Green team lost to its Croatian counterpart, the defending World Cup runners-up, 0-1 on Wednesday, at the end of their preparations for the Qatar World Cup 2022, which kicks off on Sunday, Nov. 20. In the friendly match held at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium in Riyadh, the Green Falcons demonstrated their best ever performance of the year, boosting their morale and confidence, just a few hours before the squad's travel to Qatar. The Saudi national team has completed its preparations for the World Cup finals through three phases. The first and second phases were in Spain, during which it played four friendly matches, while the third phase was in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi, where its camp lasted for 25 days before returning to Riyadh last weekend. The preparatory camps for the first two phases were held at Alicante city in Spain in June and September this year. The Saudi team played two friendly matches with Colombia and Venezuela at the Estadio Nueva Condomina in Murcia, Spain during the first phase. The team met Ecuador and US in the second phase at the Murcia stadium. During their practice sessions in Abu Dhabi in the third phase, the Saudi team played five friendly matches against the teams of Macedonia, Albania, Honduras, Iceland, and Panama. They continued their practices for two days at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium in Riyadh under the supervision of Coach Herve Renard, from Monday as part of the fourth and final phase of the preparatory program for the World Cup before meeting Croatia in the last friendly match.
