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NederlandSaudi Arabia take on Vietnam in the first game of the third round of AFC qualification for the 2022 World Cup at King Saud University Stadium on Thursday evening.
While the hosts secured a routine 3-0 win over Uzbekistan last time out, Vietnam were handed a narrow 3-2 defeat to high-flying United Arab Emirates.
Match preview
© Reuters
One of Asia's best footballing sides, Saudi Arabia have represented the continent on the global stage on five different occasions, even reaching the round of 16 in 1994.
That said, aside from that memorable last-16 run in the United States, they have not been entirely convincing in their World Cup appearances, failing to advance past the group stages in the tournament.
Now, Herve Renard's men are charging for a sixth appearance in the World Cup finals, and are well on course to booking a ticket to Qatar, having remained unbeaten in all their qualifying fixtures so far.
Having played host to Uzbekistan on the last matchday, Saudi Arabia turned on the style to sweep the opponent aside, firing three unanswered goals past them as Ali Al-Hassan's effort followed up a brace from Salman Al-Faraj.
The three-time Asian Cup winners are enjoying a five-game unbeaten run across all competitions, during which they have notched up 15 goals while conceding none.
In sharp contrast to the hosts, Vietnam are yet to make a single appearance at the World Cup finals, and will be hopeful of finally achieving this massive feat this time around to book a ticket to Qatar.
They have been one of the surprise packages of the AFC qualification so far, finishing second in Group G during the last round, having garnered 17 points from eight games to stay just a point adrift of the summit.
On the back of a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Malaysia, Park Hang-seo's men were undone by the United Arab Emirates on the last matchday, as they cruelly went down to a narrow 3-2 defeat, despite a late attempt to stage a comeback.
The 2007 and 2019 Asian Cup quarter-finalists have suffered defeat in only one of their nine fixtures across all competitions - the solitary loss coming in their most recent outing.
With a difficult game against Saudi Arabia on the horizon, the Golden Star Warriors will be keen to deliver a good performance to stand a chance of grabbing a positive result here, as they seek an immediate return to winning ways.
These two sides have only ever faced twice before now in 2001, with the Green One easily posting a combined 9-0 win over Vietnam.
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Team News
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Salman Al-Faraj, who grabbed a brace last time out, is set to keep his place in the starting lineup for this fixture.
Renard is expected to partner Abdullah Ateef and Ali Al-Hassan in the centre of the park.
There is unlikely to be any major changes to the Vietnam side that almost caused an upset against the UAE on the last matchday.
Comprised mainly of home-based players, Hang-seo has a relatively inexperienced squad to choose from, as only captain Que Ngoc Hai has registered over 40 caps to date.
Saudi Arabia possible starting lineup:
Al-Owais; Al-Shahrani, Madu, Tambakti, Ghannam; Ateef, Al-Hassan; Ghareeb, Al-Faraj, Muwallad; Al-Shehri
Vietnam possible starting lineup:
Bui T.T; Do, Bui T.D, Que; Phong, Vu, Phan, Tuan Anh; Quang Hai, Tien Linh, Van Toan
We say: Saudi Arabia 2-0 Vietnam
One of the most formidable teams in Asia at the moment, Saudi Arabia have won each of their preceding five games across all competitions, and are frontrunners for World Cup qualification from their group.
Vietnam are also performing very well in the qualifiers, but will face a difficult test against the high-flying hosts, who we are backing to just about clinch all three points.
