Why Does the Green Fail Repeatedly in Every World Cup
?By: Dr. Talal Othman
Director General — GCC SportSix times. Six times the Saudi national team returns from the World Cup with the same scenario, the same scene, and the same excuses.Six times, and some are still searching for an explanation in the coach’s name or the list of players.This is not bad luck. This is a pattern.And patterns don’t lie.In Qatar 2022, the Green stunned Argentina in the first match, then slowly and quietly evaporated until they exited through the back door. In USA 2026, they drew with Uruguay, collapsed against Spain, and failed to beat Cape Verde when a single goal would have been enough to qualify. The matches change. The result does not.So where does the problem really begin?It doesn’t begin on the pitch.It begins years earlier, in the academies, in the local league, in the scholarship programs, and in the philosophy that determines how the Saudi player is shaped from his very first day in football.The national team is not a standalone project it is the product of a larger project. If the inputs are flawed, no coach in the world can fix the output.The bitter truth is that the Saudi player arrives at the World Cup having not played enough. Not enough minutes, no real weekly competition, no exposure to a level that prepares him for the pressure of the World Cup. This cannot be created by a three-week training camp. It requires a full season of continuous play in a truly competitive environment.When you add to that a scholarship model that sends talents to the third or fourth divisions in leagues that do not suit the development of a bold, attacking player, the question becomes legitimate: Do we want a player who is “professional abroad,” or a better player? Because the two are not necessarily the same thing.Georgios Donis came just weeks before the tournament. This does not absolve him of responsibility, but it puts it in the right context.You cannot ask a coach to transform a team that was not built, in a camp that was never completed.Nevertheless, everyone is now looking for a new coach. Because a new coach is easier. Easier than reviewing the entire system. Easier than asking the real questions. Easier than admitting that the problem is deeper than the bench.World Cup 2034 in Riyadh.The Kingdom will not host the world just to participate that is certain. But the team that competes on its home pitches is not built six months before the tournament. It is built today. In the academies. In the league. In the quality of the environment in which the player develops not in the number of stars decorating the federation’s logo.If the Saudi Football Federation wants a different national team in 2034, the question that should occupy it is not: Who is the next coach?The real question is: How do we produce a Saudi player capable of competing with the best players in the world?This question is not answered by a call-up list, nor by a coaching contract.It is answered by years of silent work that no one applauds.Changing coaches is much easier than changing systems but the easy option has not worked six times in a row.
