True, I have no stake in football, but I know perfectly well that the number of players on the field is eleven, and I know that the coach was once allowed to make only two substitutions during a match, and over time the number increased until he was allowed to change half the team!

And it's true that I have never played a match in my life; not as a starter or as a substitute, yet I understand well the meaning of the 'offside trap' and offensive and defensive tactics, and I also know what 'high pressing' means.

And I wonder, with this 'high' football culture, how can someone brand me as knowing nothing about football if I address a football matter?!

So as not to anger you, O great master of sports analysis, and you who claim complete knowledge of the intricacies of football, I say to everyone: I will not compete with you for your positions on the 'noise and clamor' programs that you drill into our heads every night..

But I am a Saudi belonging to this land; I love it and it loves me. I rejoice in my country's victories even if the matter is just football, and I live in a state of grievance and discontent at what has become of our national team, which was a champion.. and 'was' is a past tense verb! So what about our present?

I will not propose solutions as you do, for that is not my role, nor will I point out the flaw you discovered before me, because that is not my role either, but I will raise my voice against everyone involved with the national team; players, administrators, coaches, and media figures, to say to you all:

The Japanese national team never dreamed of defeating us, but it planned long until its biggest dream came true by snatching the Asian Cup from us in the 1992 final. And it seems that out of generosity, we 'untied their knot' and paved the way for them, so they tasted championships and went on to steal the cup three times after that in 2000, 2004, and 2011!

And if you asked any simple follower: Will our brotherly Iraqi national team win the Asian Cup? He would consider your words a joke, but it snatched the cup from us in 2007.

As for the experiences of our brotherly Omani team in the Gulf Cups, it was like someone digging in rock, but it persevered until it won the Gulf Cup before the eyes of our players in the 19th Gulf Cup in 2009.

And finally, our brotherly Bahraini team, which has no tournament in its record, won the 24th Gulf Cup from our team in 2019.

What is the story, folks? It seems to me that the matter is a 'bitter irony', as if our players are swearing by divorce and the heaviest oaths for the opposing team to take the cup!

Every final in which our team is a party has become an occasion for the opposing team's fans to exchange congratulations on the cup in advance.. because we have accustomed them!

Colleagues in sports programs.. 'get out of it' because the matter needs a greater intervention than you and your fanaticism for your colors.

My dear readers.. I know the truth is heavy, so let's leave this worry, and let's recall memories of the good times - for optimism's sake - with the first Asian Cup we won in 1984 under the leadership of our national coach Khalil Al-Zayani, and let's recite together Talal Salama's masterpiece:

God, God, O our team.. God willing, you will fulfill our hope in the name of the nation.. Play with skill, God, God, O our team.. Be majestic..