Jordan Henderson feels Saudi heat but Mané fails to ruin Al-Ettifaq debut | Saudi Pro League

Jordan Henderson was on his haunches. He had given every part. The former Liverpool captain, and new talisman for Al-Ettifaq, had pushed himself to the bodily limits within the service of his staff. It was the form of second that has beforehand served to construct the Henderson legend, besides with a small distinction: his staff have been 1-0 down right here and there was nonetheless an hour to play.

An necessary qualification ought to most likely be made right here: it was 34.6C within the stadium at this level and with a degree of humidity excessive sufficient to hydrate a pack of immediate noodles. It was absolutely, by far, the most well liked soccer match Henderson had ever performed in, but one restoration dash, and a not solely full-throttle one at that, had solely performed him in. And the England man was hardly alone.

If you need to see one of many challenges the Saudi Pro League faces in turning into the world’s rebel soccer league, look no additional than this match. Staged within the jap coastal metropolis of Dammam, it’s notable as a result of it’s the dwelling of Aramco, the nationwide petrochemical powerhouse that has posted the best company income in historical past because the planet has entered the anthropocene age. It’s scorching in Dammam and, proper now, a bit of bit too scorching for soccer.

Dammam has grow to be the British outpost of the Saudi Pro League. Alongside Henderson at Al-Ettifaq there’s in fact the supervisor Steven Gerrard, but additionally the Scottish centre-half Jack Hendry, who arrived in Dammam through Wigan and Celtic and, most just lately, Club Brugge. Also within the facet is one other former Celtic man, French striker Moussa Dembélé.

This match was supposed to be the second the Brits got here up in opposition to the large man, as Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr have been on the town. Ronaldo received injured on Saturday night time, nonetheless, successful the thirty first trophy of his profession, the Arab Champions Cup. He didn’t journey with the squad from Riyadh and, in actual fact, Al-Nassr supervisor Luis Castro just about rotated his total XI. Of all the large names signed in the summertime to accompany Ronaldo just one remained; Henderson’s previous mucker, Sadio Mané.

This would absolutely have come as a disappointment to the in depth digital camera crews who have been within the stadium for this match (a lot of them on a brief mortgage from Premier League Productions). The stadium was about half full in the meantime and the vast majority of the followers have been there to help Al-Nassr (one thing entrepreneurial native children had actually anticipated, promoting solely yellow-and-blue merchandise on the streets exterior the bottom).

Three minutes in and Al-Ettifaq have been going through up to a wrestle as Mané put the guests one up. It was a transfer that started on the sting of Al-Nassr’s personal field and, through a collection of deflections, ended up being shuffled into the Al-Ettifaq space. There, a easy overlapping run from Ali Alhassan eluded Henderson and the Saudi worldwide crossed for Mané to tuck dwelling.

The half solely degenerated for Al-Ettifaq from that time, with no discernible form and lots of within the staff, Henderson included, enjoying at strolling tempo. That the sport was often interrupted for accidents, that became alternatives for gamers to tackle fluids, solely contributed to an absence of cohesion. There have been 4 water breaks within the first half alone.

“When I’m sitting in my house, and I have Sky News on, you see the weather in different countries around the world come up, but you don’t really appreciate that type of heat until you actually come and work in these conditions,” Gerrard mentioned after the match. “The climate has definitely been tough and challenging. So I’m going to have to adapt, and so are some of the signings we’ve made from Europe. We don’t want to leave our energy on the training pitch. There are things we have to change and … I’m facing the challenges, accepting them. I know what I’ve signed up for.”

Football being soccer, nonetheless, issues rapidly modified within the second half. It began with not one, but two clangers from Al-Nassr’s reserve keeper Nawaf al-Aqidi. The first got here inside two minutes of the restart, Aqidi grabbing a Henderson nook but then dropping the ball after a small nudge. Swedish ahead Robin Quaison was available to poke the ball dwelling. Six minutes later and Aqidi intervened once more to bungle a Ali Hazazi cross and this time Dembélé wolfed the chance down.

All of a sudden Gerrard’s males appeared restored to life. Yes the interruptions continued and, no, no one was about to try any gegenpressing, but a minimum of Al-Ettifaq organized themselves in discernible traces on the pitch and have been ready to shuttle about as a unit, closing down area as Al-Nassr tried to work their method again into the sport. Henderson was on the coronary heart of the resistance, doggedly jogging on all through.

Gerrard admitted he had accepted the job provide from Al-Ettifaq after failing to land jobs at Leeds and Leicester within the Championship. But he was filled with reward for his former Liverpool captain. “We know what he brings to the table, I certainly do, more than others,” mentioned Gerrard.

“He played for the sake of the team tonight, he wasn’t necessarily ready, but I think he showed what an elite athlete he is because to play in that heat for that long … was a credit to him.”