'Saudi players cannot live in the past'

Saudi Arabia coach Roberto Mancini has warned his players not to rest on their previous achievements as he seeks to reinvigorate his team's challenge for an automatic berth at the 2026 World Cup.

Mancini saw his side slip to a 2-0 loss in Jeddah on Thursday against a Japan side that has dominated Asia's third round of preliminaries to leave the Saudis playing catch-up in the race for World Cup qualification.

Saudi Arabia are looking to book a spot at a third consecutive World Cup - and seventh in total - with Mancini telling his players they cannot rely on historic performances to confirm their passage to North America in two years' time.

"We don't live in the past, the important thing is to qualify regardless of the ranking," said Mancini, who took over as the long-term replacement for Herve Renard in August 2023.

"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 the Saudis notched up a famous 2-1 win over Argentina in the teams' opening game of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the last defeat suffered by Lionel Scaloni's side before going on to win the title with victory over France in the final.

Renard resigned in March 2023 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 shift to the country in recent seasons.

Their arrival, which comes with clubs allowed to sign as many as 10 non-Saudi players and field up to eight in each SPL match, has left Mancini overseeing a group of players who are often lacking 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." REUTERS