Technical view: Diaz’s mistakes that almost destroyed Al-Hilal’s dreams in the King’s Cup final

Al-Hilal fans breathed a sigh of relief after 3 exciting hours at the Radiant Jewel Stadium in Jeddah, which is the age of its match against Al-Wehda in the final of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup.

With difficulty, Al-Hilal snatched the precious title after a great match presented by Al-Wehda, who was about to snatch the title had it not been for the fatal goal from Ali Al-Bulayhi, who preserved Al-Hilal’s fortunes before Abdullah Al-Mayouf took care of the rest of the task with his remarkable brilliance in the penalty shootout, which he concluded with a championship shot.

Social media was filled with the joys of the Al-Hilal fans, who at the same time directed harsh criticism of the Argentine coach Ramon Diaz, as they saw that he did not manage the match optimally, which put Al-Hilal in a difficult position throughout the events of the match.

The beginning was with the main line-up with which Diaz started the match, as he started with Abdullah Al-Mayouf, Ali Al-Bulayhi, Jang Hyun-soo, Muhammad Al-Buraik, Abdullah Atif, Muhammad Kanno, Andre Carrillo, Michel Delgado, Luciano Vito, Musa Marega.

This squad aroused the discontent of the Al Hilal fans, due to its ineffectiveness in terms of attack, in addition to causing a defect in the midfield and defense lines, which enabled Al-Wahda to pose a threat to Al-Hilal, which resulted in a well-deserved lead in the first half.

With the start of the second half, Diaz corrected his mistakes and pushed Saud Abdel Hamid, Nasser Al-Dossary and Odion Ighalo, instead of Muhammad Al-Buraik, Abdullah Atif and Muhammad Kanno, to completely change the shape of Al-Hilal and control the events of the match, while Al-Wahda was content with counterattacks, most of which were completed only from two balls, one of which was blocked. Al-Mayouf, and the other was hit by Yahya Al-Naji, and it strangely passed next to the left post.

In the final seconds, these substitutions resulted in an equalizing goal, so the two teams ruled for extra time, in which Diaz returned and repeated his mistakes, most notably when he decided to assign the penalty kick to young player Musab Al-Juwair, and due to his lack of experience, in addition to the difficult atmosphere in the final, he missed the ball and sent it outside the goal.

Al-Hilal players saved their team from the mistakes of its coach and tried to settle the match, but the additional second half did not witness any significant danger, so that penalty kicks remained the decisive word, so that Al-Mayouf would shine, giving his team a title that almost caused Diaz to reach it.