Latest news with #HervéRenard
Fox Sports
16 hours ago
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Why Is Saudi Arabia Playing In the Gold Cup?
The United States men's national team's next opponent at the Concacaf Gold Cup isn't one of its usual foes — it's not even a country from the same region. It's Saudi Arabia, which pulled off one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history at Qatar 2022, when it beat Lionel Messi and eventual champions Argentina 2-1 in the group stage. But why is Saudi Arabia playing in the Concacaf Gold Cup? Here's everything you need to know about the U.S. men's next challenge: Gold Cup invites The Concacaf Gold Cup has a rich history of inviting countries from outside the North American, Central American and Caribbean regions, dating back to 1996, when Brazil competed as a guest two years after it won the World Cup at USA 1994. Despite its international prowess at the time, Brazil didn't win the Gold Cup in 1996 — in fact, no guest nation has ever won the tournament. Concacaf took a 16-year break from inviting teams to compete in the Gold Cup, but the tradition resumed in 2021 with Qatar as part of a partnership between Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) that was established in 2018. Saudi Arabia, which is also part of the AFC, is competing in this year's tournament as well as the 2027 edition. In total, eight nations have participated in the Gold Cup as a guest team: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and South Korea. Brazil (1996 and 2003) and Colombia (2000) have each finished as the runner-up in the tournament. What happened in 2022? In what has been referred to as the most shocking result in World Cup history, Saudi Arabia beat Argentina 2-1 in its group stage opener. At the time, Saudi Arabia was ranked 51st in the world by FIFA, while Argentina was ranked third and entered the tournament on a 36-match unbeaten streak. Saudi Arabia's Cinderella story was short-lived, however, as it failed to advance past the group stage after losing to Mexico and Poland in its next two matches. Saudi Arabia has already qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be held in 16 cities across Canada, Mexico and the United States. Can they beat the USMNT? On paper, Saudi Arabia doesn't have the talent the U.S. men's national team does, but as evidenced in 2022, it's more than capable of coming up with a big result. That's especially true now that Hervé Renard is back for his second stint as Saudi Arabia's coach. Saudi Arabia beat Haiti in its opening match at the Gold Cup, while the U.S. enjoyed a 5-0 thrashing of Trinidad and Tobago in its opener. The U.S. is a +150 favorite to win the match and has +200 odds win the entire tournamnet, which is only second to Mexico (+170). Saudi Arabia is ranked 58th in the world by FIFA. The U.S. is currently ranked 16th. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account , and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! recommended Get more from Gold Cup Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
Arab Times
09-06-2025
- Sport
- Arab Times
Saudi Arabia's World Cup hopes hinge on a near-impossible task against Australia
MELBOURNE, June 9, (AP): A Saudi squad that has scored six goals through nine qualifying games needs to beat Australia by a five-goal margin to earn a direct spot at the 2026 World Cup. Head coach Hervé Renard knows it's an extremely unlikely outcome for his Saudi team, but he's urging his players to go all in Tuesday in the last game of the third round of Asian qualifying for next year's global tournament. "The door is closed, but we have to try to qualify even if it is through the window,' Renard said after his team's 2-0 win over Bahrain last week kept Saudi Arabia in contention. "Everything must go very well for us if we are to qualify; we have to score goals.' Anything less than a five-goal deficit means Australia, in second spot in Group C, qualifies for a seventh World Cup. The last time the Socceroos lost by such a margin was in successive 6-0 defeats against Brazil and France in 2013. The Australians have scored 14 goals and conceded six through nine qualifiers. After successive World Cup qualifications through the playoffs, Australia is close to securing a direct route, but coach Tony Popovic is taking nothing for granted. "We need to do a job in Saudi Arabia,' Popovic said. "We're in a great position, but we need to finish it off.' Popovic has only been in the job since September, stepping in after Graham Arnold resigned after collecting just one point in the group's first two qualification games. "It's been an intense period since I've come in, but everyone's embraced what we're aiming to do,' he said. "And we're very close now to achieving our goal.' Asia has been allocated eight places at the 48-team World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The top two teams in each of the three groups in this round advance directly. The third- and fourth-place teams in each group go into another round, vying for two more places. Japan was the first to qualify and will top Group C regardless of the outcome between Australia and third-place Saudi Arabia. Iran and Uzbekistan have qualified from Group A, and South Korea and Jordan have qualified from Group B. If Saudi Arabia fails to win by five, it will join the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Indonesia, and Iraq in the next stage of qualifying in October. Oman, meanwhile, is fourth in Group B, a point ahead of the Palestinian team in fifth place, with the two teams meeting in Amman on Tuesday. "We still have everything to play for and we know what we have to do and that is to take all three points and continue our journey,' Palestinian coach Ihab Abujazar said.
Morocco World
02-05-2025
- Sport
- Morocco World
Ziyech In, Saïss Out: Renard's Dream XI Sparks Debate
Hervé Renard's dream XI of African stars he's coached is causing quite the stir, not least for who he chose, but for who he left out. In a podcast with L'Équipe , the French manager said that Moroccan playmaker Hakim Ziyech could be top class: 'If he's at the level he showed at the 2022 World Cup, he's an exceptional player.' Ziyech, alongside Mehdi Benatia, Achraf Hakimi, and Noussair Mazraoui, all made Renard's line-up. Renard, who managed Morocco from 2016 to 2019, guided the team through the 2018 World Cup and two AFCON campaigns. But eyebrows were raised at the absence of other African stars he once championed. Asamoah Gyan, Serge Aurier, Romain Saïss, Sofiane Boufal, and Idrissa Gueye were all left out, despite being pivotal in their national teams during Renard's tenure. Gyan's omission is the most glaring. Despite Renard having served as Ghana's assistant coach during the striker's prime, he didn't even mention this national icon and AFCON hero. The exclusion of Zambia's AFCON 2012 winners, barring a brief nod to Sunzu, also rankled. Renard, dubbed 'The Fox' for his tactical savvy, led Zambia and Ivory Coast to continental glory, but his selection seems to rewrite parts of his history. Tags: Hakim ZiyechHerve Renardromain saiss
The Guardian
17-04-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
France's Sakina Karchaoui: ‘If everyone brings their own little madness, it will make us win'
Sakina Karchaoui is one of the most popular players in the France team. Perhaps the most popular. But when she joins us at 9am at Clairefontaine, the national centre of French football, Les Bleues' No 7 appears quite shy. Wearing a blue tracksuit emblazoned with the French rooster, she smiles for the first time when Kenza Dali teases her: 'Interview for the Guardian … in English please, Saki!' Spring has finally sprung in the French capital and for the native of Salon-de-Provence, in southern France, the prospect of training in the sunshine is another reason to smile. 'We are almost ready for the Euros,' Karchaoui says as she looks at the training ground below. 'We work a lot tactically with the coach, we work technically, physically, all aspects of football. I think we can win many things together; we've got so much talent. And if everyone brings their own little madness, their own experience and their own qualities to the group, that's what will make us win.' Les Bleues face a difficult assignment at July's tournament in a group with England, the Netherlands and Wales. The team are led by Laurent Bonadei, the former assistant to Hervé Renard, who stepped down after an unsuccessful Olympic Games on home soil that brought elimination in the quarter-finals against Brazil. Bonadei was the continuity choice and was welcomed by Karchaoui, one of the dressing room leaders: 'He knows what happened, what he has to work on … his human side is so important, especially in a group and even more during competitions. He impresses me. I feel that he is everywhere. When there are [club] matches, he is there. Even if it's just less important matches, he is always there. He is always present, he knows what's going on. And having a coach like that, it changes [things]. He is really invested in all that.' Karchaoui was trained as a winger but the Paris Saint-Germain player became one of the French league's best full-backs and is now an undisputed starter in France's midfield. 'During Hervé Renard's era, he told me that I was a top left-back but he wanted me to play at the heart of the game,' the former Montpellier player says. 'He was so sure of that, I played my first match [there] in Newcastle, against England. We won 2-1. I had a great match, as a midfielder, against one of the best teams in the world … so I thought maybe he was right.' Karchaoui, who defines herself as 'a creator', now plays in midfield too for PSG. 'The coaches don't talk to me about the left-back position any more. As a full-back, I had a skill set so wide that I think I wasn't happy with this position any more. I wasn't happy just to stay in my area on the pitch. When you get to a stage where you go from playing as a left-back to a midfielder, it means that you already have an intelligent game. When you play in the midfield, you play even more intelligently.' To match the level of 'players who have been trained their entire careers as midfielders', she watches a lot of videos. 'I try to always add something new to my game,' she says. Her role model? Luka Modric. Although she cites a man as a reference for her position, she is an example herself for the next generation. Karchaoui embraces her role-model status, aware that two of her younger France squad-mates view her in that light: 'I remember one day, when with PSG we were playing against Paris FC, Melween N'Dongala [the Paris FC right-back] didn't dare to talk to me at the end of the match, as she was too overawed. I also know that Lou Bogaert [the Paris FC left-back] watches videos of my games to progress.' She is proud, after growing up without a female role model and being a fan of Samir Nasri and Robin van Persie, to be an idol for kids, whether girls or boys: 'I succeeded where I would never have thought,' she says. 'It shows the success of women's football.' Karchaoui describes herself as 'very discreet', even more so when it comes to protecting the 'cocoon' of her personal life, but when she is asked about her Moroccan roots, her face lights up. She has never been more expressive at press conferences than before France faced Morocco in the last 16 at the 2023 World Cup. 'I have a 100% Moroccan education and I'm not ashamed to say it,' says a player who grew up in the low-income housing projects of Miramas, less than 10 miles from Salon-de-Provence. 'I think it's wonderful in the French national team because you have other people who have their origins, who have a different education, but in the end there are the same values that bring us together.' It is a defence of multiculturalism in France, where the far right is rising and attempting to divide. 'If you don't see it with the right eyes, and you don't see that we have a country where we are lucky to have so many cultures, so many different origins, so many differences, and that's what makes everyone bring their own thing, I find it a bit stupid,' Karchaoui says. Last year, she extended her contract with PSG until 2028, despite offers from 'big European clubs, even from the United States or Saudi Arabia'. Karchaoui wanted to set an example and 'be a spokeswoman' to help a 'stagnating' French league grow. The top division has become professional but that will probably not tie her there for the rest of her career. 'I signed for PSG but it doesn't mean anything,' she says. 'I do everything for this club at the moment. I give my all. But it doesn't mean I won't go somewhere else later.' Speaking of a next destination, she has a precise idea: 'I really love the English championship. Why not play there one day? I almost signed there twice, and in France we say things always come in threes, so we don't know.' She has discussed the Women's Super League with her English PSG teammate Mary Earps. 'Her dream was to play in France, and now she's there. Maybe we can swap roles. I'm 29 years old, I'm in top form. I've never felt so good physically, mentally, in everything. As a woman too. And I know that I haven't done everything I would like to do yet.' If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email This is an extract from our free weekly email, Moving the Goalposts. To get the full edition, visit this page and follow the instructions. Moving the Goalposts is back in to its twice-weekly format, delivered to your inboxes every Tuesday and Thursday.
Saudi Gazette
25-03-2025
- Sport
- Saudi Gazette
Saudi Arabia hold Japan to goalless draw in Saitama to stay in World Cup hunt
SAITAMA — Saudi Arabia secured a valuable point in their push for 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification, holding off a dominant Japan side to earn a 0-0 draw at Saitama Stadium on Tuesday in Group C of the AFC Asian Qualifiers – Road to 26. The result lifts Hervé Renard's Green Falcons to 10 points, following their 2-0 win over China PR last week in Riyadh. They remain firmly in the race for the second automatic qualification spot, behind already-qualified Japan, who now have 20 points from eight matches. Despite making six changes to the starting lineup that beat Bahrain to seal World Cup qualification, Japan controlled the match, peppering the Saudi defense with chances throughout the game. Daichi Kamada returned to the XI and nearly made an instant impact, feeding Daizen Maeda in the ninth minute. The Celtic forward beat goalkeeper Nawaf Al Aqidi but struck the left post. Minutes later, Maeda missed another golden opportunity after a bursting run by Keito continued to press and hustle the Saudi defense, coming close again in the 18th minute, only to shoot too close to Al Arabia struggled for rhythm in the opening half but managed one clear look at goal when Mohannad Al Shanqiti headed over from a rare foray resumed their pressure shortly after, with Takefusa Kubo sending a long-range effort over the the second half, Japan continued to dominate possession but were unable to find a Endo and Ko Itakura both missed opportunities with headers, while Maeda remained a constant threat but couldn't closest the Samurai Blue came to scoring was in the 81st minute, when Kamada released Junya Ito, whose shot was expertly tipped over by Al Aqidi to preserve the clean Ito fired high from distance in the closing minutes, and Saudi Arabia nearly snatched a late winner after a poor backpass, only for Zion Suzuki to clear just in time ahead of Turki Al draw maintains Japan's unbeaten run in the qualifiers while offering Saudi Arabia a hard-earned and morale-boosting result ahead of the remaining group fixtures.
