: WORLD CUP HISTORY

Saudi Arabia made the world stand up and take notice with a sterling debut at USA '94. The Saudis finished the opening round with a surprising 2-1 record, stunning heavily favored Belgium, 1-0, on a goal by Saeed Owairan, losing to the Netherlands, 2-1, but defeating Arab rival Morocco, 2-1. They were eliminated in the second round, falling to Sweden, 3-1.

In 1998, the Saudis struggled, dropping two opening-round matches -- 1-0 to Denmark and 4-0 to France -- before playing South Africa to a 2-2 draw. In fact, their performance was so distressing that coach Carlos Alberto Parreira -- yes, the same Parreira who guided Brazil to its fourth world championship four years prior and the 2006 coach -- was fired after two matches.