Saudi Arabia halt Senegal's 11-match scoring run in goalless friendly draw

Saudi Arabia were the brighter of the two sides in the opening stages, with Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy called into action to smartly deny Firas Al-Buraikan and Musab Al-Juwayr from close range during a dominant first 10 minutes for Georgios Donis' team.

The pattern of Saudi control continued until half-time, as Nasser Al-Dawsari steered narrowly off target just after the half-hour mark, and Senegal offered a limited response with Cherif Ndiaye repelled in stoppage time.

Despite an impressive first-half performance, Donis made five substitutions at the interval, looking to give more of his squad minutes.

However, those changes disrupted Saudi Arabia's attacking flow, and Senegal slowly pulled themselves back into the match. Pape Thiaw introduced Nicolas Jackson and Ismaila Sarr after 62 minutes, but they were unable to add some much-needed star quality to the contest, and Senegal's frustration grew in the final minutes when Jackson was shown a second yellow card within two minutes for a challenge on Abdullah Al-Hamdan.

The goalless draw means Saudi Arabia will begin their Group H campaign against Uruguay next week, having gone unbeaten in two warm-up friendlies after a 3-0 victory over Puerto Rico.

The result brought an end to Senegal's streak of scoring in 11 successive matches, and they go into a challenging group stage opener against France having not won either of their pre-tournament friendlies.