Saudi Arabia have a great chance of qualifying for the knockout stages of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar but before that, the celebration in the Middle Eastern country has already risen to stratospheric heights.
A national holiday was announced a day after they pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the history of the World Cup, beating Lionel Messi’s Argentina 2-1 in their tournament opener at the Lusail Stadium in front of close to 80,000 fans. And now the reports have emerged that the members of the World Cup squad will get a Rolls Royce worth 500,000 euros each.
The Royal family is set to present the Saudi Arabian World Cup footballers a Rolls Royce each as promised by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. Interestingly, this is not the first time a Saudi footballer will get a Rolls Royce from the Royal family. In the 1994 World Cup, Saeed Al-Owairan received the luxury following Saudi’s 1-0 win over Belgium.
Saudi Arabia came back from 0-1 down to topple Argentina 2-1 to bring an end to the South American giants’ 36-match unbeaten streak.
After shocking Messi and Argentina in one of the biggest World Cup upsets, the Green Falcons turn their attention to Lewandowski and his Poland team on Saturday.
Saudi Arabia, the second lowest-ranked team in the tournament, could even book its place in the second round with a win – a remarkable achievement for a side with no foreign-based players.
Unlike the fans, Saudi Arabia’s French coach Hervé Renard is not celebrating yet.
“The Argentina game is one of the three important games we have to play,” Renard said Friday. “The only good thing at the end of this group stage is to finish number one or number two. So whatever happens, the most important thing is to be qualified for the next round.”
His players are also looking ahead.
“We will work even harder than in the previous match,” midfielder Sami Al-Najei promised. “Everyone knows that the next match is more important than the previous one.”
