Saudi Arabia are among the favorites to win the title, and they are starting the tournament against the most difficult team in their group. However, the quality difference is huge.

They gained confidence in the World Cup when they beat Argentina 1:2 in the opening game, and want to show their strengths in this Asian Cup trying to improve the ⅛ finals achieved in 2019.

All of their players are from the local league, but must remember that the level of the Saudi Pro League has grown a lot with the last signings of top players (and also coaches). This Asian Cup will be a good test to see if the arrival of those players has made the local players raise their level and quality.

Between their main players their star is midfielder Salem Al-Dawsari, but overall I think they have quality in almost all positions with the winger Saud Abdulhamid or the striker Saleh Al-Shehri. All of them are from Al-Hilal and have been playing together with top players like Neymar, Mitrovic and Miliknovic-Savic.

On the other hand, although Oman is the main rival for the second position, it’s mainly due to the terrible level of the other two rivals (Thailand and Kyrgyzstan). They are coming from a good performance in 2019 playing for the first time ever the ⅛ finals, and also were runners-up in the Gulf Nations Cup 2023 (a semi-friendly tournament).

However, this is a very difficult game for them and surely will be looking for a draw. Even a defeat won’t be the end because winning the other two games most probably they’ll finish second in this group.

They lack quality, especially upfront. They have a solid defense and will try to play a defensive game here, so their best player Muhsen Al-Ghassani will struggle and have very little impact in the game because he is an offensive midfielder.

Both teams played in the Gulf Nations Cup where Oman won 1:2, but there Saudi Arabia played without many important players and some youngsters. Saudi Arabia has much more quality and I see them winning here, taking the first three points of the tournament and starting in the right way, as they did in the World Cup.

该文章通过有道机器翻译，仅供参考:

沙特阿拉伯是夺冠的热门球队之一，他们将在比赛开始时面对小组中最难对付的球队。然而，质量差异是巨大的。

中国队在世界杯揭幕战中以1:2击败阿根廷队，获得了信心，他们希望在本届亚洲杯上展示自己的实力，试图在2019年的决赛中取得更好的成绩。

他们所有的球员都来自当地联赛，但必须记住，随着最近签下的顶级球员(还有教练)，沙特职业联赛的水平已经提高了很多。本届亚洲杯将是一个很好的测试，看看这些球员的到来是否提高了本土球员的水平和质量。

在他们的主力球员中，他们的明星球员是中场塞勒姆·达萨里，但总的来说，我认为他们在几乎所有位置上都有实力，有边锋沙特·阿卜杜勒哈米德和前锋萨利赫·阿尔谢赫里。他们都来自阿尔希拉尔，和内马尔、米特罗维奇和米利诺维奇等顶级球员一起踢球。

另一方面，虽然阿曼是第二名的主要竞争对手，但这主要是由于其他两个竞争对手(泰国和吉尔吉斯斯坦)的糟糕水平。他们在2019年的比赛中表现出色，首次参加了决赛，并且还获得了2023年海湾国家杯(半友谊赛)的亚军。

然而，这对他们来说是一场非常困难的比赛，他们肯定会寻求平局。即使一场失利也不会是结束，因为赢下另外两场比赛，他们很可能以小组第二的身份出线。

他们缺乏质量，尤其是前部。他们有稳固的防守，并将尝试在这里打防守比赛，所以他们最好的球员穆赫森·阿尔-加萨尼将会挣扎，在比赛中几乎没有影响，因为他是一名进攻型中场。

两支球队都参加了海湾国家杯，阿曼以1:2获胜，但沙特阿拉伯没有很多重要球员和一些年轻人。沙特阿拉伯的实力更强，我认为他们会在这里获胜，拿到比赛的前三分，并以正确的方式开始，就像他们在世界杯上所做的那样。

01月17日沙特 VS 阿曼比赛分析直播