Saudi Gazette report

St. Pittsburg, Russia — The Saudi national soccer team arrived in the Russian city of St. Pittsburg Saturday evening to take part in Russia World Cup scheduled to kick off on Thursday.

At the airport, the team was received by Saudi Ambassador to Russia Dr. Raed Gurmuli and embassy officials.

The team will make every effort to achieve good results and improve upon its own past performance, officials said before departing Riyadh.

The Green Falcons are taking part for the 5th time in the FIFA World Cup. In 1994 World Cup hosted by the US, Saudi Arabia reached round 16.

The Saudi team will play host Russia in Group A which also includes national teams of Egypt and Uruguay.

The Saudi team, led by Argentinian coach Solary, succeeded in crossing the first round in World Cup in US after topping its group scoring six points from two wins over Morocco 2-1 and Belgium 1-0. It lost to Holland 2-1 which ranked second with a goal difference.

The Saudi team was defeated by Sweden in round 16 of the finals 1-3.

Shaikh Salman Al-Khalifa, Chairman of the Asian Football Federation, arrived in Moscow to attend Asian and international federation meetings and watch the participation of his continent’s teams.

Shaikh Khalifa took part in a meeting of heads of continent’s federation chaired by the FIFA chief Gianni Infantino.