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Saudi Arabia coach fired
Saudi Arabia football coach Gerard van der Lem was fired after his team was eliminated from the Asian Cup finals.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 09:04 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Riyadh:
Saudi Arabia football coach Gerard van der Lem was fired after his team was eliminated from the Asian Cup finals, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. The three-time champions lost to Iraq 2-1 on Monday, putting the Iraqis into the quarterfinals for the third straight time while relegating Saudi Arabia to last place in Group C. Saudi Arabia has either won the continental title or finished second since it first qualified in 1984. Changing trends Prince Nawaf bin Faisal, Deputy President of the Saudi Football Federation, said in Chengdu, China, that he was instructed to fire the Dutch coach and his staff for performance "that does not become the Saudi team." It was Iraq's first victory over Saudi Arabia in 16 years. "Everyone knows that the coaching team - which came in two years ago - had full authority and mandate to prepare ... the team for participation," bin Faisal said. "But considering the unbecoming (performance), which we would never accept for the Saudi team, (SFF chief) Prince Sultan bin Fahd bin Adel Aziz instructed that the whole coaching team be fired." Probe into loss He said there would be an investigation into the loss. "I apologise in the name of everyone for the failure of our team to reach the advanced stages in the Asian Cup. We really tried our most, but we did not succeed," he said. Saudi Arabia won the Asian Cup in 1984, '88 and '96, and has appeared in all of the past five finals. But van der Lem's injury-ridden team only managed a draw with Turkmenistan before losing to Uzbekistan. (AP)Topics mentioned in this article
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