The first Saudi national football team lost its test match to its Costa Rican counterpart with a score of "1-3", during the confrontation that brought them together, Friday, at St. James Park Stadium in the English city of New Castle.
The confrontation is the first for the Italian Roberto Mancini, the coach of the Saudi national team, after he took over the leadership of Al-Akhdar, succeeding the Frenchman Herve Renard.
The first attempt by the Costa Rican national team was made by aljandur Patna, his player, who shot a ball over the goal of Nawaf Al-aqidi, the goalkeeper, after 7 minutes had passed after the starting whistle, and the green response came quickly by Ali Hazazi, who penetrated into the penalty area and falls to the ground and orders the referee to continue playing.
The Costa Rican national team was able to open the scoring from the header of defender Francisco Calvo at the 12th minute. Manfred ogaldi doubled the score with the same scenario from a header in the 33rd minute .
Mohamed Kanu almost closed the gap with a powerful shot from outside the penalty area, which was blocked by goalkeeper Navas to return to Salem, who hit hard; but the Costa Rican goalkeeper also blocked it five minutes before the end of the first half.
With the beginning of the second half, the green intensified its pressure, amid the retreat of the Costa Rican national team players, and the Italian Roberto Mancini made the first substitution with the exit of Abdulrahman Gharib and the entry of Abdullah Al-Hamdan.
Salem Al-Dossari almost scored the first goal with a shot from outside the penalty area, which the goalkeeper narrowly missed and the ball hit the crossbar to go out to a corner kick.
Ali al-balihi was able to reduce the difference from a header, taking advantage of the Cross of the brickan, who followed the ball before exiting it at the 68th minute, scoring his first international goals with Al-Akhdar.
The Italian coach pushed the returning Fahd Al-Mawlid to participate with the national team after a not short period away and was close to equalizing, but his header hit Navas ' goal, 5 minutes before the end of normal time.
Randall Leal, the Costa Rican national team player, took advantage of a mistake from Hassan timbukti, the defender, and scored the third goal at the 88th minute to end the confrontation with the loss of Al-Akhdar by a triple in exchange for a goal.
The Saudi national team will meet its South Korean counterpart in its second Test match within its preparatory camp at the same stadium next Tuesday.