Saudi Arabia's national football coach, Juan Antonio Pizzi, is optimistic his team is capable of "stopping" Egyptian footballer Mohamed Salah during the World Cup.
Pizzi is not underestimating Salah's talent in any way but strongly believes in the Green Falcons, Saudi Arabia's national team.
"His level at the moment is extremely high and he is certainly one of the best players in the world right now, if not the top on his current form. But of course, we believe in our players," Pizzi told Arab News.
"We have some fantastic defenders and we have confidence in our team, in the skills of our players. There will be no special plans for Salah but for sure we have the players who can stop him," he added.
Generally, the football coach expects to see a good performance against Egypt and other countries during the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
Salah has officially been dubbed the best player in the Premier League this season.
Saudi Arabia's Green Falcons will need to face both Russia and Uruguay before competing against Egypt.
"Our plan is working very well for the World Cup," Pizzi said.
"All of the training camps have gone very well and the players understand very well what we are trying to do. Our focus is totally on the first game against Russia. The players are working extremely hard towards that match."
In September 2017, Saudi Arabia became the first Arab country to qualify for the for highly-anticipated international competition, which is set to take place in Russia this June.
Russia 2018 is considered to be the kingdom's fifth appearance in the FIFA World Cup, having first qualified in 1994.
The kingdom's only victory at a World Cup was in 1994 when the national team made it to the second round.
Qualifying for the 2018 World Cup is a huge victory, not just for the Saudi national team, but also for the entire kingdom.
Some people don't necessarily agree with Pizzi
More like strongly disagree
