Peseiro axed after Syria defeat

Saudi Arabia coach Jose Peseiro has been sacked following their shock Asian Cup loss to Syria on Sunday.

Saudi Arabia lost for only the second time in 24 meetings against Syria, going down 2-1 in their opening match of the tournament in Qatar.

Nasser Al-Johar has been named as his replacement.

“The quality of the players was not as we wished, they didn’t play with their hearts. I blame the players and have released the coach,” FA president Prince Sultan Bin Fahd Bin Abdulaziz said in a statement.

“It is not acceptable for Saudi Arabia. The coach has had enough time, more than a year and a half, to do a perfect job.”

Peseiro faced an immediate inquest from the country’s media after the defeat and had a long-running battle with the press following his failure to achieve World Cup qualification in 2009.

At his post-match press conference, he backed his players to come good in their next two matches.

“I believe in this team, I believe we are winners,” Peseiro said.

“Look at Spain in the World Cup, they lost the first match and finished as champions. If we beat Jordan and Japan in our next two matches we will go through to the next phase.”

“I am not playing against the media, I am playing against Japan, Jordan and Syria.”

“Listen, it was not a good result, but we did not play all that badly. We showed some good spirit and we deserved a better result.”

“You are free to write what you like about me but don’t demoralise my players.”

Syria coach Tita Valeriu was surprised but delighted after his unfancied team got off to the best possible start, backed in no small part by a raucous contingent of Syrian fans in the Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium.

“To be honest, I didn’t expect this result but I expected to have a very good performance,” Valeriu said.

“We have good players and the performance of the players was really impressive.”

“The win is only the start and the hard thing for us will be to carry on with the same motivation and good performance in the next matches.”

“I liked the big number of fans. They were our 12th man and I want to congratulate them and hopefully we can have more good support in the next matches.”

“This is only the first match and all the teams in the group still have a chance to advance to the next stage.”

“We might have won the battle but we haven’t won the war.”