Herve Renard relieved with Saudi's 5-0 win after slow start

Apr 01, 2021 06:00 am

Herve Renard was relieved his Saudi Arabia side were able to overcome an unconvincing start to secure a 5-0 win over Palestine yesterday morning (Singapore time) and maintain their unbeaten record in the second round of Asia's World Cup 2022 qualifying campaign.

Saleh Al-Shehri scored twice while Yasser Al-Shahrani, Fahad Al-Muwallad and Salem Al-Dawsari were also on target for the three-time Asian champions, who leapfrogged Uzbekistan to top Group D with 11 points from five matches.

Singapore sit third on seven points, two adrift of the Uzbeks. Yemen are fourth on five points with Palestine propping up the group with four.

Said Renard: "We didn't start the match well. There was an opportunity for our opponent at the start of the match and they didn't take advantage of it, fortunately. We scored two goals in the first half, which ended well.

"I congratulate the players on their performance, especially the young ones.

"Our opponent relied on long passes and we are not very strong in dealing with this, but we performed well." - REUTERS