Saudi Arabia suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Uruguay in Rostov on Wednesday and lost their chance to reach the round of 16. They were also beaten by hosts Russia 5-0 in the opening match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

"We kept possession well... against Uruguay, we did what we wanted in terms of passes. We were able to create scoring opportunities. Unfortunately, we missed a ball... We didn't play well enough to score an equalizer... We were much improved today... Why didn't we manage [to play] like this against Russia?... There were factors that could have influenced that, we have analyzed them with the team. There is a big difference between our two matches at the tournament," Pizzi told journalists.

He added that Saudi Arabia could be proud of the efforts they had put in each match.

"We can say that we've tried our best at this World Cup," Pizzi said.

Saudi Arabia will face Egypt in their final World Cup encounter.

"I don't agree that Saudi Arabia came to the World Cup unprepared... The first defeat was a shock for us, and today we wanted to get at least a draw," Pizzi concluded.