Renard banks on experience to seal Saudi Arabia's spot at FIFA World Cup

Confronted with what he described on Monday as “the most important match of my life,” Herve Renard sought solace in the fact his players have the knowledge and nous to make it one of the most memorable, too.

For Renard, the Saudi Arabia national team and the millions that will no doubt be watching on late into Tuesday night, the stakes really do feel that high.

Avoid defeat against Iraq in what is sure to be another cauldron atmosphere at the intoxicating Alinma Stadium, and Saudi Arabia will take their place at next summer’s 2026 FIFA World Cup.

In matches of such magnitude, any manager would look around the dressing room to those who have been there and done it. To those who have delivered when mattered most.

Fortunately for Renard, there will no shortage of that as he prepares to send his Saudi Arabia out into the winner-takes-all showdown for top spot in Group B – and that automatic pass to football’s showpiece eight months from now.

"I’m lucky because I have some players with experience like Saleh Al Shehri, Salem Al Dawsari - our captain - now Hassan Al Tambakti is getting more experience,” Renard told the gathered media in Jeddah little more than 24 hours before his side’s date with destiny.

"I always tell [my team] to stay focused. It’s not always easy but the most important is when they are listening, so we prepare for this game very quietly. We are concentrated on our goal, and we don’t have to do something else: just focus on us. This is the most important."

The experience Renard cites is plentiful. Proven at the highest level, also. Of those he mentioned, between them Al Dawsari, Al Shehri and Al Tambakti have 576 Roshn Saudi League appearances.

All three are Saudi champions: Al Dawsari has six RSL titles with Al Hilal and Al Tambakti one, while Al Shehri’s trophy cabinet contains five. The striker’s haul includes the most recent winner’s medal of the trio, coming last season in Al Ittihad’s march to top-flight glory.

Both Al Shehri and Al Dawsari, meanwhile, have twice lifted the AFC Asian Champions League. To underline their pedigree, the latter is a former Asian Player of the Year and was top scorer in last season’s inaugural AFC Champions League Elite.

However, success has not been limited to domestic and continental football. Al Dawsari, Al Tambakti and Al Shehri each contributed to arguably Saudi Arabia’s most famous victory to date, the 2-1 win against eventual winners Argentina at the most recent FIFA World Cup.

In fact, Al Dawsari and Al Shehri got the goals on that lightning-in-a-bottle afternoon three years ago at Lusail Stadium in Doha, Qatar. How Renard would love a repeat.

This time, as Saudi attempt to book a spot at a third successive global finals and seventh overall, another gargantuan effort will be required.

Yet elite-level experience isn’t confined to the three players Renard referenced on Monday. Feras Al Buraikan, scorer of a brace in Friday’s opening play-off win against Indonesia, has 53 goals in 154 RSL appearances. In May, he played his part in Al Ahli being crowned for the first time champions of Asia.

Elsewhere, Nasser Al Dawsari has represented Al Hilal for 10 seasons and is a five-time RSL winner to go with a pair of AFC Champions League successes. Only months ago, he shone at the summer’s FIFA Club World Cup. His opponents in the United States? Only Real Madrid and Manchester City, among others.

A former Al Hilal teammate, and a second-half introduction in the 3-2 victory at home to Indonesia, Saud Abdulhamid collected two RSL titles before making the trailblazing transfer to AS Roma in August last year. The formidable full-back has since begun plying his trade in France’s Ligue 1, with Lens.

Like Salem Al Dawsari, Al Shehri and Al Tambakti, Abdulhamid was there on the pitch in December 2022, when Saudi Arabia shocked Argentina and the world.

Almost a full three years on, the Green Falcons need another peak performance. Do that, and the “most important match of my life” might become yet another highlight on Renard’s already-remarkable resume.