SAUDI ARABIA PROFILE: An extremely fortunate qualifying campaign and an outgoing manager... only divine intervention could get the Saudis into the second round, writes Paul Doyle

The Koran was revealed to Mohammed in Mecca, Eve lived and died in Jeddah, but the Saudis will need yet another miracle if they are to amaze the world next summer. The suspicion is that they used up their last one when Bahrain beat Iran in October to put the Saudis through. ‘Twas a heavenly draw for Ireland.

The chances of anyone re-creating the astonishing goal scored by Saeed Owairan against Belgium in 1994 are tiny, but those of it being done by one of the current crop of Saudi players are smaller than a camel's conscience.

Though most of the Saudi defence - Abdullah Souleiman, Hussein Soulemiani, and Ahmed Khalil - were all present at France '98, Sami Al-Jaber (left) seems to be the Saudi most likely to impress. He did so in USA '94, most notably when he scored in the Saudis' terrific 2-1 win over Morocco, and France '98, where the team fared poorly. In the current campaign, Al-Jaber smashed in eight goals and, along with Bahrain's shocking win, was the main reason his team topped their group ahead of Iran.

Most of their best players may be senior citizens, but one relatively young player who shined in the qualifiers was gifted 26 year-old attacking midfielder Nawaf Al Tamyat. So much did he sparkle that Spanish giants Valencia inquired about bringing him to the Primera Liga - but the peculiar way in which Saudi football is run meant that the owner of his club was allowed to scupper the move by declaring that Al Tamyat will never be transfered from Al Hilal, and certainly not out of the country. Club owners regularly make such statements and regularly enforce them, since it is forbidden for a player to leave a club without the owner's permission even if he doesn't have a contract - it's a strange practice which is seen as a huge impediemnt to the development of the Saudi national team.

Nonetheless, this summer will be the third time the Saudi have participated in football's great jamboree, though qualification for this summer's showpiece hadn't looked at all likely after the Saudis gleaned only one point from their first two games. That shoddy start led to the sacking of Yugoslav coach Slobodan Santrac and the re-appointment of Nasser Al-Johar, who had guided the team to the finals of the Asian Cup the previous year (where, it must be said, they were outclassed by Japan).

Quite what attitude Al-Johar will take in the run-up to the World Cup remains to be seen, but he can't be overly-enamoured with his bosses, who are already interviewing managers to replace him after the tournament - no matter who the draw had pitted him against, it was never going to increase his chances of keeping his job.

Squad:

Goalkeepers
1-Mohammed Al-Daeyea (Al-Hilal), 22-Mohammed Khojali Babkr (Al-Nasr), 21-Mabrouk Zaid (Al-Ittihad)

Defenders
13-Hussein Sulimani (Al-Ahli), 3-Redha Tukar (Al-Shabab), 5-Mohsin Harthi (Al-Nasr), 6-Fouzi Al-Shehri (Al-Ahli), 12-Ahmed Dukhi Al-Dossary (Al-Hilal), 2-Mohammed Al-Jahani (Al-Ahli), 23-Mansour Al-Thaqafi (Al-Nasr), 4-Abdullah Sulaiman Zubromawi (Al-Hilai)

Midfielders
8-Mohammed Noor (Al-Ittihad), 16-Khamis al-Owairan (Al-Ittihad), 17-Abdallah Al-Waked (Al-Shabab), 10-Mohammad Al-Shlhoub (Al-Hilal), 14-Abdulaziz Al-Khathran (Al-Shabab), 19-Omar Al-Ghamdi (Al-Hilal), 7-Ibrahim Al-Sharani (Al-Ahli)

Forwards
9-Sami Al-Jaber (Al-Halil), 18-Nawaf Al-Temyat (Al-Hilal), 20-Hassan Al-Yami (Al-Ittihad), 15-Abdullah Jumaan (Al-Hilal), 11-Obeid Al-Dossary (Al-Ahli)