Donis hails defence as Saudi Arabia open FIFA World Cup with Uruguay draw | OneFootball

Saudi Arabia manager Georgios Donis praised the team’s resolve after his side began their 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign with a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Uruguay in Miami early on Tuesday.

The Green Falcons, contesting their third successive global finals, took the lead at Miami Stadium not long before half-time, Al Nassr centre-back Abdulelah Al Amri pouncing on a rebound following Hassan Tambakti’s saved header from a corner.

Uruguay came back in the second half, their pressure eventually telling with 10 minutes remaining when Maxi Araujo slid in to score the equaliser after Al Ula goalkeeper Mohammed Al Owais parried.

The Saudi Arabia flag unfurled before their opening FIFA World Cup Group H match v Uruguay

The former Al Hilal stopper had been excellent throughout, making nine saves in all to deservedly collect the Man of the Match award.

With Cape Verde holding 2010 champions Spain to a goalless draw late on Monday, Saudi Arabia’s point is certainly something to build on. Donis’ men next face Spain, ranked the world’s third best team by FIFA, on Friday night in Atlanta.

Saudi Arabia's first goal of the FIFA World Cup goes to Al Nassr defender Abdulelah Al Amri

Speaking after the opening draw, the former Al Hilal, Al Wehda, Al Fateh and Al Khaleej manager, who was appointed only in late April, said: "For us, within three weeks we've been trying to set up our game, ​build up our game and have a better spirit.

"When we're faced with certain ​opponents, getting one point is a positive event and this is a booster ⁠for our psychology. Currently I'm trying to learn my team; I'm trying to learn my players and ​get to know them.”

Donis added: "We can say in the first half we had good control over the play, and we had opportunities to ​score without being very ​decisive.

"In the ⁠second half, if someone analyses it, one can say that a possible scenario was that we had the lead and we thought mostly defensive. We ​had already scored and we wanted to keep that.

"Were we, perhaps, tired ​in the second ⁠half? It appeared to be that, in the second half, we didn't have the same intensity. Our opponent was able to go deeper into our half.

"We didn't show enough self-confidence to keep possession ​in order to change their tempo, so that meant that ​we had pressure near our box. Thankfully, we had an excellent goalkeeper and an excellent defence today."