In his first official reaction following the 2026 World Cup draw, Frenchman Hervé Renard, head coach of the Saudi Arabian national football team, commented on Group J, which has placed the Green Falcons in a challenging group. These remarks come as Saudi fans eagerly await the start of the tournament, which will be held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, beginning on June 11.
Renard: Our goal is to repeat past achievements and advance beyond the group stage
In an exclusive interview with beIN SPORTS, Renard emphasized that nothing is impossible in football, indicating that Saudi Arabia's ambitions extend beyond mere participation. The veteran French coach stated, "Anything is possible in football. Our primary objective is to advance to the next round, and we aspire to replicate the fighting spirit we displayed at the 2022 World Cup, and even achieve better results that will secure our continued participation in the tournament.".
Renard, who returned to lead the Green Falcons, added: "We are fully focused on all the technical and physical details. We know very well how difficult it is to face a team the size of Spain and Uruguay's rich history, but I hope things go very well and that we are ready to make the Saudi fans happy.".
A fiery group and historic challenges
The draw resulted in the Saudi national team being placed in Group 10, which analysts described as one of the strongest groups, as it includes, in addition to the Green Falcons, the Spanish national team (2010 World Cup champion and European champion), the Uruguayan national team (two-time World Cup champion), as well as the Cape Verde national team, which has witnessed remarkable development in recent years in the African continent.
Drawing inspiration from the spirit of 2022 and the memories of 1994
This new challenge comes based on the honorable football legacy of the Saudi national team, as the global football memory still retains the historic achievement of the "Green Falcons" in the Qatar 2022 World Cup, when they managed to defeat the Argentine national team (which later won the title) with a score of 2-1 in a football epic held at Lusail Stadium, led by Renard himself.
The return of the tournament to American soil also brings to mind the first and historic participation of the Saudi national team in the 1994 World Cup in the United States, when the Green Falcons succeeded in qualifying for the second round in an unprecedented achievement for Arab and Asian football at that time, a scenario that Renard and his squad hope to repeat and surpass in the 2026 edition.
The importance and impact of the event
The participation of the Saudi national team in this edition is of particular importance, not only on the sporting level, but also as part of the great sporting movement that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is witnessing, and the development of the local league which now includes an elite group of world stars, which raises the ceiling of expectations about the performance of local players in the global event.
