Topic: Saudi Professional League 2023/2024 - page 93. (Read 119011 times)

Yeah, I didn't watch the match but I saw the stats and indeed Al-Hilal was a little better and luckier with a goal in the last minute, but here I see Al-Ahli playing better than last season they can implement a defensive game even though in the end it was conceded yeah overall it's a positive improvement. Talking about penalties, yeah I wouldn't be surprised if Al-Hilal won because they have Bono there as one of the great goalkeepers from Europa, imagine the final score on penalties is 4-1 that's enough to describe how great Bono it is clear that Al-Hilal can always be relied on for penalties. Today we will be waiting for one more team that will take its place in the Saudi Super Cup final between Al-Nassr and Al-Taawoun.

Al Hilal succeed in winning through the penalty shootout, I wasn't surprised in their winning but reaching penalty was a surprise to me because I don't expect Al-Ahli to resist Al Hilal pressure who are being in their best form since last season and also won two of their pre-season matches.  Al-Nassr and Al-Taawoun will be playing super cup semi final the match tomorrow,  Al-Nassr have had a bad time in previous game against FC Porto conceded four goals while Al-Taawoun haven't lost in their last four matches but this alone can not justify that unless the play it. Al Hilal are now in the final waiting for their opponents either  Al-Nassr or Al-Taawoun.

So the both runners up for Saudi Pro League and the Cup started to face each others. At the beginning I thought that it will be easy for Al-Hilal to win against Al-Ahli which wasn't that great in the previous season but I was mistaken.
Fortunately Al-Ahli players, except Firmino, wasn't ready in penalties otherwise it will be a very bad start of the season for Al-Hilal.
Tomorrow Al-Nassr will face Al-Taawoun and I think the final will be a classic one between the blue and the yellow.

The Al Hilal vs Al-Ahli match in the Super Cup seemed to be quite tough, the match had to be resolved through a penalty shootout. Given that Al Hilal was more superior than Al-Ahli, Jorge Jesus' squad was unable to finish the match in the normal 90 minutes. Al-Ahli even took the lead first, through a goal from Firmino who welcomed Riyad Mahrez's assist. But unfortunately, in the crucial minutes Mitrovic was able to equalize to 1-1. In the end, Al Hilal was entitled to advance to the next phase. Thus, Al Hilal is undefeated in 7 meetings with Al-Ahli.

In another match, Al Taawoun will fight Al Nassr. Of course, Al Nassr's chances of winning over Taawoun are quite high. We can refer to the available odds that the bookies favor the team they coached by Luis Casto, but Al Nassr still should not underestimate their opponents. because, Al Taawoun is often troublesome. this match must be won by Al Nassr, so they will meet Al Hilal, then defeat them. none other than to further increase motivation, and advance consistently throughout the Saudi Pro League competition begins.

I was also surprised to see a twenty-nine-year-old midfielder playing as if was less than twenty years old. I think he can still play competitive football in Europe. Al-Ittihad didn't have a good campaign last season but with the appointment of Laurent Blanc as the new coach and the signing of players like Predrag Rajković, Moussa Diaby and others, they might have a successful season.

Before N'Golo Kanté left Europe for the Saudi League, I am sure he made up his mind to go after money. He has won almost everything in football and just wants to make some money before retiring. We all know that money is not a problem in the Gulf League, so Al-Ittihad will not let him go. He is an experienced player that the SPL needs to build the league. As a practising Muslim, his social life suits the Saudi society. However, it is up to him to make a decision.

It will not be easy for Kante to leave Saudi since the club is not interested in selling him. The reason why I said so is that we know that this Arab men already have money and if they don't want to sell a player, they can make his fee very high for any club that wants to buy Kante just to scare them away which will be a big challenge for Kante to leave SPL even though his decision is to leave.

If he feels he still have love for European football he should not have gone to SPL who normally use huge amount of money to entice the player that they want to buy. Moving to European League might be difficult because they can increase his pay just to keep him in SPL.

Al-Hilal 1 - 1 Al-Ahli

I confess that when I saw the Al-Hilal squad that would play, I didn't bet on Al-Hilal to win the game, my guess was that in this game they could draw, the absence of Malcom meant that Al-Hilal's attack was not very strong, while the opponent improved its performance a lot, although Al-Hilal won this game thanks to penalties. This is a worrying result in the sense that Al-Hilal will probably not be as dominant in the league as they were last season. Al-Hilal's coach, Jorge Jesus, will have a very difficult task because the other teams have become stronger.

tomorrow's game

Al Taawon - Al Nassr

these two teams in the last 5 games in which they faced each other, showed that Al Nassr had 3 victories against 2 victories of Al Taawon



If Al Nassr wins, we will once again see a duel involving Al Nassr against Al Hilal, remembering that in recent years Al Nassr has not been able to beat Al Hilal. That is why it will be a very interesting game if these two teams face each other, because if Al Nassr wins, it would be a strong indicator that Al Hilal is weak compared to last season and Al Nassr could have a good chance of becoming champions.

As far as I realize about Kante is, that this player does not have big ambitions to be able to play in the top European league or not and even, playing in the French national team also the fact that they need Kante and not Kante who has ambitions to play in the national team. But still,  because Kante is a very simple person, then Kante still gives the best performance and quality that he can do optimally. Thus, it is not surprising that there are still top European teams interested in bringing Kante, despite the fact that Kante's age is also 33 years old.

But indeed, when there were rumors about West Ham being interested in signing Kante at the time,I think Al Ittihad was also willing to sell or release him. But with information or news like  this, about Al Ittihad who will try to keep Kante I think will be the right choice. Because at least, the age factor maybe will also not make Kante last long in the top European league and thus,  staying at Al Ittihad will certainly be the right choice to continue to get high pay at an age that is close to retirement.

Of course they have to pay the contract fee. Kante earns very good money in Saudi Arabia. There are not many teams in Europe that would pay the same amount, but if he expects a little less in the contract, then things might be easier. I heard that Atletico Madrid want him. I think he can still play at a high level in Spain because the teams France faced were still the strongest teams in Europe. Kante showed his best performance against them and he can do the same in La Liga.

https://x.com/Cristiano/status/1820497880903540905?t=2SAfllLAcbpaDudakRVbDA&s=19

I want to talk about something different about Cristiano Ronaldo. Cristiano Ronaldo is more conscious because he is willing to take any kind of preparation regarding his health. 
He spends a lot of time exercising every day to keep his body toned and fit, with which he has had considerable success and still puts more effort into football than other players. Even though football has come to the end of his life, he has become more caring, which is what impressed me the most.

When Al Ittihad currently has huge ambitions to win the SPL next season, of course they will not try to sell their current main players, especially as I don't see if there is any factor that makes Al Ittihad pressured to sell Kante to another club, So far they are continuing to try to bring in other European players so selling Kante will of course be a big loss for Al Ittihad in the future, Westham and Atletico have made offers to recruit Kante this summer but Kante has a contract until 2026, so I think there is no chance for Westham and Atletico to get him especially since Kante looks very comfortable playing in the SPL.

Kante has previously played in the English league for Chelsea and Leicester City, so as a player who has great loyalty and respect for his former team, it seems impossible for us to see him playing for another club in the future, Kante will of course protect the feelings of Chelsea fans and Leicester City will probably consider him a traitor if he plays for Westham later.

Different players have different ideologies at different times, in this case Cristiano Ronaldo comes out of it as a complete controversy. Cristiano Ronaldo has been neglecting many courses day after day as he loves football since childhood. But since he once held a world record, he is loved by those coaches. However, he was very dominant in the European clubs but now he is having the happiest time of the day by coming to the Saudi clubs.  He is one of the top senior players which is a boon for the Saudi Pro League.

It shouldn't be a suprise because Kante is still a top footballer and has some strength in him to still play at top level but his injuries is why he got sold to Al-Ittihad from Chelsea. If he still wants to play in Europe I think he should be given another chance because there are no much players like him in Europe. Others are getting over hyped and price causing teams a fortune to buy them but they aren't getting much from them. Al-Ittihad reason for not wanting to sell Kante could be, he might be costlier to buy back after playing some season in Europe. And since Al-Ittihad aren't lacking money, they don't have any pressure to sell kante. Kante played very well in the Euros and showed everyone that he still has strength to play. He also won some man of the match award too. Any club that wants him should push further and they might get him to sign but they should be ready to pay him very well too.

Cristiano Ronaldo just doesn't get along with the current Man United coach, Ten Hag. And maybe if the coach at that time was not Ten Hag then Cristiano Ronaldo would also be more comfortable at Man United. But now we know that at first it only made Cristiano Ronaldo sit on the bench. After a lot of news talked about it, Ten Hag gave more playing time to Cristiano Ronaldo. And sometimes it's only half the game and not full time. Well, naturally at that time Cristiano Ronaldo, who still felt capable of playing full time, felt unappreciated there. And not only that, competition for players within the Man United club is not what it used to be. In the past, Man United was similar to Real Madrid in that they always respected and supported each other. But now at Man United I think we can see for ourselves how much competition there is between the players like last season. So Man United often loses chemistry between the players.

Now Cristiano Ronaldo is more comfortable at Al-Nassr because here he is more accepted by everyone. And all the players at Al-nassr always respect him. Even in training sessions, Al-Nassr players are sometimes seen asking for practice so they can be taught to shoot the ball like Cristiano Ronaldo does. And Cristiano Ronaldo's choice to come here was very right from the start. Even though Al-Nassr failed to win the title. But I don't think it matters at all.

Al Nassr keeps pushing with Ronaldo in the team, I can comment that they're lucky enough to withstand the necessary pressure and also coupling up average oppositions on their path. Perhaps the difficult season do comes and hardluck was simply their proportion the previous season. They lost everything to their pre-eminent rival, Al Hilal. Next season happens to be another angle of concentration for tyr Knights of Najd as we would watch them exert energy towards the good scores.

On the records, Cristiano Ronaldo is world best player alive and he's always timing whenever he's on the pitch, he doesn't hesitate to grab opportunity before him. Infact he's the main pillar of the club, they're progressing because they've Ronaldo in the club, always making the impossible to become possible, an extra ordinary player comes with high standards.

Quite surprising news where Kante is so sought after by two European clubs, namely West Ham and Atletico. Of course it is because of his stunning appearance with France at Euro this year and it is natural that even though he is not good at Al-Ittihad because of the lack of support from his teammates, it still makes his name glanced at by European teams.

On the other hand, Al-Ittihad's decision will not let Kante go and they insist that Kante is not sold. I think this depends on Kante's decision and if he wants to return to Europe then he can enjoy a league with a more exciting competitive level and if he stays in the Saudi league then he will only enjoy an income of millions of euros each season. We know that Kante's desire to play in big competitions is still there and his level has not actually decreased.



Source: https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1823368317521756270

Al Nassr has new football kit

 

Talking about what I expect from Al Nassr for this season, well they haven't made any big signings, so I expect to see the same thing as last season, tomorrow AL Nassr FC has an official game, they will play against AL Taawoun FC in a Super Cup game, Al Nassr is being seen as the favorite to win the game, but I think it won't be an easy game for Al Nassr.


Neymar will play in this new season, from what I could understand in this article:


In my opinion, these teams can bring the best players in the world, but if they don't have the best coaches, then they won't be able to achieve anything relevant.


I agree, the Arabs managed to do something very good, something that the Chinese and Americans did not achieve in their football leagues.

In the previous season, Al Nasr and Al Hilal dominated the Saudi Arabian League. Al Nasr was clearly helped by Ronaldo, but Al Hilal was not helped at all by Neymar, because of his long-term injury. However, strangely, Al Hilal, which lost its main player due to injury, managed to become champion of the Saudi Arabian League in the previous season. Meanwhile, Al Nasr, who had full strength, was helpless against Al Hilal and failed in all competitions in the previous season.

However, this season I also cannot conclude with certainty whether Al Nasr and Al Hilal will be successful and compete fiercely like the previous season. Because as we know, teams like Al Ittihad and Al Qadsiah seem to be serious about building their squad to be even better this season. Because it is proven that these two teams bring in top players from European clubs. However, even so, the players brought in by Al Ittihad or Al Qadsiah will not necessarily be able to bring these two teams to success in the Saudi Arabian League next season. Because as we know, top players cannot guarantee that their team will get a trophy. However, teamwork and good chemistry between players and coaches is what can make a team have great potential to become champions.

However, I have predictions regarding the teams that will most likely compete closely in the Saudi Arabian League next season. These teams are

• Al Hilal
• Al Nasr
• Al Ahli
• Al Ittihad
• Al Qadsiah

These five teams will definitely compete fiercely in the top 5 of the Saudi Arabian League. Apart from that, in my opinion, in the Saudi Arabian League there is not much change every season, Al Hilal, Al Nasr and Al Ittihad are always tough competitors every season. So next season, it is very likely that these three teams will compete fiercely again. Then Al Ittihad and Al Qadsiah will become scapegoats which of course can provide unexpected surprises.

Portugal's poor run in recent Euro 2024 is not all about Cristiano Ronaldo it's all about their management because currently they are having few quality players, but sadly we are having not good use of them in this event just because of this we are having Portugal performing poorly in big events their system completely fail to give confidence to their quality players for having good performance in consistency despite having players even now Cristiano Ronaldo is 39, but they are still having all strategy around him which is surely worst for them and their teams future.

Now it's time for them to move ahead and have some good changes with bringing skilled and quality players for having better results surely give them good success in Euro and World Cup if we are having Cristiano Ronaldo in World Cup 2026 surely it is not good deal for them team, but they are doing nothing for development and having better things for their future.

With Portugal's lack of significant success in the 2022 World Cup, Ronaldo has said that he will play until the 2026 World Cup, but the performances we have seen from Ronaldo for the national team in the Euro tournament seem to suggest that he will not be available for the national team until 2026. 

Ronaldo did not finish well in the Euro tournaments and he was not seen taking free kicks like he used to and we did not see him dribbling the ball like he used to. If he performs like that, maybe the manager will tell him to replace him with a young player who will perform better. Ronaldo may not like the fact that he is now a burden to a team that he once single-handedly carried. 
Let's see as there is still a long time if his performance improves then maybe he can consider participating in 2026 World Cup.