¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ

JEDDAH: ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ were held to a 1-1 draw by Indonesia in Jeddah on Thursday on a day of surprises in Asia as the third round of World Cup qualification began.

It was very much a case of two points dropped against the lowest-ranked team in Group C, especially as Salem Al-Dawsari saw a penalty saved with 11 minutes remaining.

However, it could have been worse. Hours earlier, group rivals Australia had crashed to a 1-0 loss at home to Bahrain and, for a while, it looked as if Saudi boss Roberto Mancini was about to suffer a similar humiliation.

Indonesia may be Asia’s most improved team and bolstered by the naturalization of several European-based players, but they arrived for the clash ranked 133 in the world, a full 77 places below the hosts.

No wonder home fans at the King Abdullah Sports City expected a comfortable win.

¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ took time to get going and had not really threatened before the visitors took the lead after 19 minutes. Ragnar Oratmangoen cut inside on the right edge of the area and his fierce shot deflected off Sandy Walsh and past the helpless Mohammed Al-Owais. The Indonesian fans went crazy as did the coaching staff, led by South Korean Shin Tae-yong.

While it shook ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ into action, chances were still hard to come by. Mohamed Kanno shot just wide and then Al-Hilal teammate Salem Al-Dawsari, sporting the captain’s armband, started to get into the game. The introduction of AS Roma’s new signing Saud Abdulhamid on the right side just after 30 minutes also gave the hosts a bit more bite and balance. 

The final pass was not quite there though, and the Southeast Asians looked dangerous on the break.

Then, just before the break, the home team got the break they needed. Musab Al-Juwayr had control of the ball on the edge of the area but his shot took a major deflection on its way to the back of the net to bring a sense of relief all around the stadium. It surely changed the halftime team talks of both bosses.

Al-Nassr’s Abdulrahman Ghareeb came on at the start of the second half and should have done better three minutes in when, after some sloppy Indonesian play, he blasted a shot over and wide from a good position.

¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ were applying pressure at last, however, and a second goal did not look to be too far away. Even so, the visitors looked to hit on the break and, for the neutral at least, the game started to open up in an entertaining fashion.

With 20 minutes remaining, ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ were on top but Mancini, wearing a shirt and tie, looked worried on the sidelines.

Al-Dawsari shot just wide from outside the area as the teams started to look a little tired on a humid evening. In the 76th minute, the hosts went even closer but Abdulhamid’s header came back off a post with goalkeeper Maarten Paes beaten.

However, moments later Paes gave away a penalty while trying to play out from the back. He ended up bringing down Firas Al-Buraikan and up stepped Al-Dawsari, the goalkeeper making amends for his mistake by making a diving save to his left.

It sparked ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ to even greater efforts. With two minutes to play, Kanno’s shot from outside the area was saved by Paes and the rebound went across the face of goal with no one on hand to hit home.

It was an agonizing sight for the home fans, but the winning goal never came, although Al-Buraikan saw a one-on-one chance spurned.

Next comes an away game in China on Tuesday to face a team thrashed 7-0 in Japan and desperate for some improvement.

¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ will need to improve too. There are still nine games to go and the top two places that bring automatic qualification are still within reach, but the start should have been better. On the other hand, on what was a crazy day in Asia, it could have been worse.