Last week, the Saudis were finally knocked out of contention for World Cup 2014 after a 4-2 victory for the Socceroos at Melbourne’s AAMI Park saw Oman go through with Australia to the fourth round.

Saudi had been regular qualifiers for World Cups up until 2006, but they are now dealing with the reality of a second consecutive failed World Cup campaign.

“We lost our organisation after the second goal and our team still have some young players who still don’t have enough experience like the Australian team who have more experience than us,” a disconsolate Al-Qahtani told au.fourfourtwo.com.

With an average age of around 24 clearly this is a Saudi team for the future. But the Aussies had way too much experience on the night.

“It happens in football but maybe that will help our team prepare for the next World Cup,” said Al-Qahtani, who scored for the Saudis at World Cup 2006.

“We hope we can be better in the future. But our team still have young players and I think they will have a good future next time.

“There are many young players. That will give us a good chance for reconstruction and we think our inspiration will work for that.”

Al-Qahtani was linked with a move to Manchester City in 2007 and became the most expensive footballer in Saudi football history when he transferred to Al-Hilal in 2005 for an estimated $5.7 million.

A former Asian Footballer of the Year in 2007 and joint top scorer in that year’s AFC Asian Cup – where he captained his team to the finals - ‘The Sniper” sees the next generation of players as able to help resurrect the Green Falcons.

However while the future may be bright, the former AFC Player of the Year will be 35 at the next World Cup. This may have been his last chance at one more World Cup appearance.

“I still can’t believe what has happened,” he said. “We made mistakes during the game. My team lost the game during three minutes.”

Due to a lack of match fitness stemming from a recent injury spell, Al-Qahtani was kept on the bench player till the second half.

He was unable to stem the tide of the game after the blitz of three goals in as many minutes swung the game the way of the Aussies.

“That in football is not always happen but we are unlucky," he said. "Our players gave everything.

“We were in front two times but when we received that second goal our team had mental confusion and we lose the chance to qualify for the next round."

Quizzed on the speculation about Saudi coach Frank Rijkaard’s future and the 29-year-old was blunt.

He added: “This is not my business.”

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