Saudi Arabia will play in the first of a pair of friendlies at St James' Park on Friday, as they take on Costa Rica.

The Green Falcons will begin life under the new management of Roberto Mancini and return to action for the first time since March, while their opponents will play in Friday's meeting and against the United Arab Emirates before turning to the CONCACAF Nations League in November.

Match preview

Saudi Arabia travel to Newcastle for a pair of games this month after most recently being in action in March, in which they played two international friendlies after exits from the World Cup group stage and Gulf Cup group stage either side of the turn of the year.

After a 2-1 defeat to Oman saw them fall short of qualifying in the latter in January, the Green Falcons headed into consecutive home friendlies against South American opposition, firstly meeting Venezuela and falling to a 2-1 defeat as Salem Al-Dawsari's 73rd-minute goal was not enough to force a turnaround after Josef Martinez and Salomon Rondon had the visitors 2-0 up in the first half.

Bolivia were the next visitors to Jeddah, and Al-Dawsari was again on the scoresheet to draw Saudi Arabia level on the stroke of half time, but they were unable to stay level, instead falling to another 2-1 beating as Carmelo Algaranaz netted the decisive goal in the 67th minute.

Since those results, the Green Falcons have turned their focus to upcoming competitive action and taken action to replace former boss Herve Renard with Roberto Mancini.

With their sights now set on the new World Cup Qualifying campaign beginning in November, with the aim of reaching the global competition group stage for the third consecutive occasion, Saudi Arabia will be keen to make a winning start under their new manager at St James' Park to build a degree of momentum.

They meet a Costa Rica side who were in competitive action more recently, as Los Ticos travel to Newcastle on the back of their CONCACAF Gold Cup campaign across June and July.

Following their group-stage exit from the 2022 World Cup, Costa Rica suffered defeats in a pair of friendlies against Guatemala and Ecuador, before kicking off the Gold Cup group stage against Panama and eventually falling short again in a 2-1 loss.

They would then play out a goalless draw with El Salvador, leaving their qualification hopes resting on a meeting with Martinique, but Luis Fernando Suarez's team were able to progress, eventually coming out of an eventful contest with a 6-4 victory, having led throughout as Kendall Watson, Francisco Calvo, Juan Pablo Vargas, Joel Campbell, Anthony Contreras and Diego Campos all got on the scoresheet.

That set up a tough quarter-final tie against Mexico in Texas in early July, and Los Ticos were unable to advance further, dropping out of the competition thanks to a 2-0 defeat as Orbelin Pineda opened the scoring from the penalty spot early in the second half before Erick Sanchez wrapped up the result with a second three minutes from time.

Now looking ahead to the upcoming CONCACAF Nations League, in which they have a bye to the quarter-finals in November, and heading into a new era with Suarez having departed following the Gold Cup, Costa Rica will look to get back to winning ways in Friday's friendly and against the United Arab Emirates next week.

Team News

Saudi Arabia have called up a full-strength squad for Roberto Mancini's first two matches at the helm, although they are without forward Saleh Al-Shehri, who has missed the start of the Saudi Pro League season with Al-Hilal, having netted 11 goals in his 25 international caps.

Their main threats are on the wings, with Fahad Al-Muwallad and star man Salem Al-Dawsari both expected to play key roles, having netted 17 and 21 goals for the Green Falcons respectively.

They will flank either Al-Ahli's Firas Al-Buraikan or Al-Hilal's Abdullah Al-Hamdan up front, while the likes of Yasser Al-Shahrani and Ali Al-Bulaihi bring experience in defence.

Interim Costa Rica boss Claudio Vivas also has a relatively strong squad at his disposal, although talismanic goalkeeper Keylor Navas is unable to make the squad, while the likes of Bryan Ruiz, Bryan Oviedo and Johan Venegas have not turned out for their nation since the 2022 World Cup.

They will line up in a similar way to in the CONCACAF Gold Cup quarter-final against Mexico, with Anthony Contreras likely to again lead the line while plenty of attacking responsibility will again fall on winger Joel Campbell, who has turned out 131 times and netted 27 goals for Los Ticos.

Midfielder Celso Borges has also notched up 27 international goals and will again feature in the engine room, likely alongside Wilmer Azofeifa, while Juan Pablo Vargas and Kendall Watson will continue to partner up in the middle of the back four.

Saudi Arabia possible starting lineup:
Al-Owais; Al-Ghannam, Al-Bulaihi, Al-Shahrani, Abdulhamid; Kanno, Al-Khaibari, Al-Najei; Al-Muwallad, Al-Buraikan, Al-Dawsari

Costa Rica possible starting lineup:
Chamorro; Valverde, Vargas, Watson, Calvo; Azofeifa, Borges; Campbell, Alcocer, Madrigal; Contreras

We say: Saudi Arabia 1-1 Costa Rica

We see these two nations on a relatively level playing field, and while Costa Rica may have a slight edge in quality and international experience, Saudi Arabia will be keen to kick on under Mancini's management and we see them avoiding defeat at St James' Park.


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