The Green Falcons narrowly lost 1-0 to Colombia in their previous match while Venezuela got the better of Mali in their opening friendly of this round of fixtures.
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Saudi Arabia will play Venezuela in a friendly matchup at the Estadio Nueva Condomina in Spain on Thursday. Saudi Arabia are preparing themselves for the 2022 FIFA World Cup finals in Qatar later this year. The South American’s with nothing to lose, are preparing for the next World Cup qualifiers set to start next year. The Green Falcons narrowly lost 1-0 to Colombia in their previous match while Venezuela got the better of Mali in their opening friendly of this round of fixtures. The Asian outfit has been pretty solid at the back having kept five clean sheets in their last nine encounters and this game is also likely to be a low-scoring match.
Este martes, los dirigidos por José Pekerman completaron una sesión de entrenamientos con miras al partido del jueves ante Arabia Saudita ??.#VamosVinotinto ?? pic.twitter.com/gc2kCgwMNm
— La Vinotinto (@SeleVinotinto) June 7, 2022
Saudi Arabia managed to reach the World Cup finals for the second time in a row, courtesy of some crucial set of home results. The Green Falcons cruised through the second round of qualification with an unbeaten record before topping the group in the third round, above Japan, to clinch automatic qualification. Herve Renard’s men returned to action on Monday in a friendly against Colombia, and were narrowly beaten courtesy of Santos Borre’s lone strike. Now, with the World Cup just five months away, Saudi Arabia would be aiming to bounce back and make full use of this round of fixtures. Al-Suqour has won two of their last five games in all competitions and would be keen to improve the record.
Venezuela, on the other hand, got the better of Malta, earlier this month, courtesy of Salomon Rondon’s first-half goal. La Vinotino struggled throughout the World Cup qualification, picking up just 10 points from their 18 games and finishing at the bottom of the CONMEBOL group. Meanwhile before the World Cup qualification, Venezuela didn’t have a great Copa America, dropping out in the group stage without picking up a win in four attempts. Meanwhile former coach of Argentina and Colombia, Jose Pekerman took charge of La Vinito in December, 2021 and would be hoping to help his side register back-to-back wins for the first time since 2019.
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Firas al-Buraikan, who captained Saudi Arabia against Colombia, is expected to lead the line once again on Thursday. Meanwhile, veteran midfielder Fahad Al-Muwallad, who has scored 17 goals in 70 international appearances, is sidelined with injury and therefore Salman Al-Faraj should continue to pull the strings from the middle of the park.
As for Venezuela, Rondon, who has 35 international goals to his name, will continue to lead the attack. Yeferson Soteldo and Jhon Murillo are likely to occupy the filanks. Nahuel Ferraresi, who was impressive against Malta, will continue to partner Jhon Chancellor in the heart of the defence.
Saudi Arabia probable starting lineup: Al Owais, Al Ghanam, Tambakti, Al Bulaihi, Al Dawsari, Al-Faraj, Al-Ghannam, Al Hamdan, Bahbri, Al-Buraikan.
Venezuela probable starting lineup: Farinez, Osorio, Chancellor, Ferraresi, Cumana, Herrera, Bello, Laratonda, Soteldo, Rondon, Murillo.
The international friendly match between Saudi Arabia and Venezuela will take place at Estadio Nueva Condomina and it will kickoff at 10:30 am IST on June 9, Friday.
Soccer fans in the USA can watch the match on Foxsports.com, FOX Sports App and FOX Deportes.
