Saudi Arabia Football Federation (SAFF) sacked its national team's Brazilian coach Helio Cesar dos Anjos, Saudi Press Agency reported Sunday. The decision, which was approved by SAFF Chairman Prince Sultan Bin Fahd, came less than 24 hours after the Saudi team won its match against Lebanon 2-1 in their third stage of 2010 World Cup qualifiers. Saudi national coach Nasser Al-Jawhar will replace Dos Anjos during the remaining fixtures of the Asian qualifiers. Officials in Football Federation in Riyadh refused to give more details about the decision. “It is effective from today and I have no idea whether Al-Jawhar will continue with the team or not,” a top SAFF official told the Saudi Gazette. The report justified the decision because of the poor performance of the Saudi team in its recent matches.Saudi Arabia is now in the second place of Group D with nine points, three points behind the leader Uzbekistan which blanked Saudis 3-0 in their first leg match in Tashkent last March. The SPA report said Anjos failed to improve his squad's abilities despite the full opportunities that he was given during his stint with the Saudi team. “Saudi fans are looking forward to a fifth World Cup appearance and we wish Anjos a successful career in the future,” it said. After the decision, Prince Sultan held a meeting with the new coach Nasser Al-Jawhar to discuss his plans for the Saudi team in the next matches. “I hope that I continue the Saudi team's path to 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa,” Al-Jawhar said. Anjos, 50, who was working with the Saudis on a long-term project with the Saudi Arabia FA, signed his contract in March ahead of the AFC 2007 Asian Cup. A few months after he replaced his countryman Marcos Paquita, Dos Anjos did a good job with the Saudi team when his side swept aside the likes of Uzbekistan and defending champions Japan to storm into their sixth AFC Asian Cup final in July 2007, where Saudis only lost to Iraq by a solitary goal. Dos Anjos was the 38th coach for the Saudi national team since 1957. __
