13 October 2025
Saudi national team coach Hervé Renard confirmed on Monday that tomorrow's match against Iraq is the most important in his coaching career, considering victory as the team's sole goal in this crucial match. Fans' eyes are now focused on Al-Enma Stadium, which will host the highly anticipated summit between Saudi Arabia and Iraq in the third round of the final Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.
In a press conference held on Monday, Renard said: "Tomorrow's match is the most important match in my history as a coach, and I will explain this to the players tomorrow after the match."
He added, "I am very fortunate to coach the Green Falcons and to be alongside experienced players like Saleh Al-Shehri, Salem Al-Dawsari, and Hassan Tambakti. We are calmly focused and striving to win and qualify." He continued, "I returned to coach the Saudi national team because of my confidence in the players and also my confidence in the president of the federation. I love challenges and difficulties, and we are highly motivated to secure a qualification ticket. We know the quality of the Iraqi team, and this match is important to us. In this stadium, we qualified in 2018 against Japan, and in the 2022 qualifiers, we qualified via Australia. Tomorrow, what matters to us is the presence of the fans in the stadium. We love pressure, and this pressure is positive for us."
The Saudi national team topped Group B with 3 points, having scored 3 goals and conceded 2, while the Iraqi national team came in second with the same score, having won 1 goal and kept a clean sheet.
