Mancini’s cascade of criticism after Saudi sacking: ”it’s totally unacceptable”

Arabia will soon reach the quarterfinals of Asia Cupbut with a goal at 90+10′ of Cho Gue-Sung and a penalty shootout prevented it. The Italian coach was heavily criticized for his behavior, when he left the bench before the end of the penalty shootout, something that “cannot be allowed.”

Eventful tournament from the first moment

It’s just one day before the debut Roberto Mancini He confirmed in the press conference before the match that he had to do without the three players called up because they asked to be starters. Al-Faraj, Al-Ghannam and Al-Aqidithey stopped summoning when they saw that their demands would not be fulfilled.

“Al-Ghanam and Al-Aqidi They asked to play as starters, but I was the coach and the one making the decisions. We asked the three of them two or three times if they wanted to play for the national team and the answer was no,” highlighted the former Italy coach.

They demand his immediate dismissal

The coach awaited the result of the penalty shootout with two of his assistants, including Yaya Touré, who was his former player at City and now one of his right-hand men, but with the failure of Abdulrahman Ghareeb On Arabia’s fourth pitch he went to the locker room. An unusual picture as there is still one release left.

That image unleashed a cascade of criticism, from fans and leaders alike. ”The departure of the coach (Mancini) is completely unacceptable. You can’t pass. Let’s talk about why it happened. You have the right to explain your point of view and then we will decide on the appropriate action. Technically, we were satisfied with the performance in the Asian Cup, although I didn’t want to lose“said Yasser Al Misehal, president of the country’s football federation.” Fans spoke of “shame, insensitivity and a gesture that I did not do in Italy.”

Mancini’s apology to X

In view of all the chaos that was generated, the Italian apologized to all the Saudis for their behavior, with some rather unusual explanations. ”I am really thankful to our brave players who showed resilience and character in a very tough match, they gave it their all. Many thanks to our fans who created an incredible atmosphere yesterday. We worked hard to get away from this tournament but we fell short. I repeat my apologies to everyone for my early departure from the locker room before the penalty shootout ended. With your support and trust, we continue to build for the future of Saudi football.”

Some showed their support by accepting his forgiveness, while others continued to bring it to him with very painful responses: ”We don’t want you to take your money from our country and leave. You coward, you chose the worst player and said that no one else wanted to represent us. You failed,” one user told him.