French coach Hervé Renard, the head of the Saudi national team, expressed his regret for not achieving a positive result against Japan, after the match ended in a goalless draw in the eighth round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.

Renard said: "The players' spirit was high today, but I apologize to the fans for not winning against Japan. If you had told me yesterday that we would come away with a point from Japan, I would have agreed immediately, as we faced a very strong opponent."

He added: "We still have a chance to qualify for the 2026 World Cup without needing to go through the playoffs. We have two crucial matches against Bahrain and Australia, and we will fight to achieve full points to ensure direct qualification."

He continued: "In the first half, we faced some technical problems, and I worked to correct them through substitutions, and we performed better in the second half."

He went on: "We missed some attacking solutions and technical touches that could have given us an edge against Japan."

He concluded his remarks by saying: "Japan is a very strong team, tactically disciplined, and deserves to be a prominent representative of Asia. I respect their coach and team, and I believe they are capable of achieving great things in the 2026 World Cup."