Mancini out as Saudi Arabia coach after 14 months in charge

RIYADH (Agencies): Roberto Mancini has left his role as coach of Saudi Arabia after his contract was ended by mutual agreement, the national team announced on Thursday. The 59-year-old Italian took the helm of the Saudi national team in August 2023, replacing Herve Renard. Under Mancini, the Saudis were knocked out of the Asian Cup in the last 16 earlier this year after losing in a penalty shootout to South Korea. “The Saudi soccer federation’s Board of Directors and the national team coach, Italian Roberto Mancini reached a joint agreement on Thursday to end the contractual relationship,” the national team posted on social media platform X. The Saudis are third in Group C of Asia’s third round of World Cup preliminaries with five points. They are five points adrift of group leaders Japan after four matches. They lost 2-0 at home to Japan on Oct. 10 before being held to a scoreless draw by Bahrain five days later. The top two in each group advance automatically to the World Cup while the third and fourth-placed sides go into another round of preliminaries with the bottom two finishers eliminated.