| Mabrouk Zaid emerged as the man to replace veteran goalkeeper Mohammed Al Daeyea after he stepped down following three successive appearances at the FIFA World Cup finals™ from 1994 onwards. A series of confident displays in 2005 saw 26-year-old Zaid cement his place as Saudi Arabia’s number one. Zaid’s magnificent record during the FIFA World Cup™ qualifiers speaks volumes as he conceded just one goal and kept a clean sheet in six matches, with Saudi Arabia finishing unbeaten to reach Germany 2006. His consistently excellent performances received widespread praise, even from rival coaches. His superb reflexes and cool demeanour breed confidence among the defenders in front of him, as was shown when his club Al Ittihad made a successful defence of the AFC Champions League title in 2005. Though six goals went past him in six games, Al Ittihad put 20 in at the other end, and Zaid rounded off a memorable year with a victory over Egyptian giants Al Ahly in the opening encounter of the FIFA Club World Championship in Japan. Zaid was the third choice keeper for Saudi Arabia at the last FIFA World Cup and he watched from the bench as his team conceded eight goals against Germany. He will be desperately keen to prevent a repeat performance at Germany 2006 in a group featuring Spain, Tunisia and Ukraine.
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