Hervé Renard, the head coach of the Saudi national team, expressed his happiness with the victory over China with a score of 1-0 in the match held this Thursday evening at Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh, as part of the seventh round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.

Renard said: "We are happy with this victory, and we had to take advantage of the opportunities to avoid the pressure we faced in the last minutes. This victory is important after a period in which we did not achieve positive results in the qualifiers."

He added: "We were capable of being more effective today, but the most important thing is to work on improving the exploitation of opportunities in the upcoming matches."

He continued: "So far, we haven't scored a large number of goals, and there is a clear difference between us and Australia, as they have a goal difference of +5, while we are at -2."

He went on: "The pressure does not come from the results of other teams, but from our situation and our need to win every match. We have strong confrontations ahead against Japan and Bahrain before facing Australia."

Renard commented on the performance during the match, saying: "We controlled the ball from the start, but after scoring the goal, the Chinese team retreated, and we couldn't penetrate their defensive lines effectively. If we had scored the second goal, we could have widened the gap and achieved a comfortable victory."

Regarding Hassan Kadsh's injury, Renard said: "He was taken to the hospital, and it has not yet been determined whether he will be able to travel with the delegation or not."

He also spoke about Salem Al-Dosari, saying: "He is suffering from a muscle strain, and this issue is recurring with many players during this period, and the main reason is the lack of fluid intake."