FIFA acknowledges Saudi striker's 147 International caps

Leslie FERNANDO

It's official Saudi Arabia's Majed Abdullah is the most capped player in the history of international football.

Majed won 147 senior caps during his career putting him 22 ahead of the former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton.

Peter Shilton has been heading the list of players with the most international appearances for years. But it has been rumoured for a long time that the total number of caps collected by the Saudi Arabian striker Majed Abdullah could have broken Shilton's record by more than a few.

It has been now proved beyond doubt that Majed Abdullah have broken Shilton's record by more than a few.

According details received from FIFA News Majeed Abdullah really has played in 147 'A' internationals-22 more than Shilton.

Majed Abdullah (also known as Majeed Ahmed Mohammed) first sported the Kingdom's colours in friendly versus the Republic of Korea in 1978.

His last official splash was engraved on many a football fan's memory - when Saudi Arabia sprang a surprise win against Belgium in the last group on June 29, 1994 in Washington, he had been in action for one half of the match.

Nicknamed 'The Desert Pele' for his speed, supremacy in the air and determination Majed Abdullah has been Asia's Footballer of the Year three times, time and again a league champion and cup winner with his club Al Nasr and the league's top goal scorer not to mention his 'Golden Shoe' award twice over as the best goal scorer of the entire Arab world.

Before Saudi Arabia qualified for the 1994 World Cup Majed Abdullah played a large part in their capture of the Asian Cup in 1984 and 1988 and in qualifying for the 1984 Olympic Games.

He would have notched up far more than 150 international if he had not missed the Asian qualifiers in Doha, Qatar in October 1993 (apart from the goalless start against Japan) and several practice matches played by his team in the run-up to the 1994 World Cup.

FIFA has scrutinised the list sent in by the Saudi Association. The main obstacle was the player's variety of names that demanded meticulous comparison of information on international matches in the data bank which yielded supposedly different players.

The investigation in fact revealed that it concerns one and the same player. A number of games had to be disregarded because Olympic preliminaries for instance do not count as 'A' internationals.

But any previous doubts that existed about the other appearances have now been completely dispelled. The Saudi Association has corroborated its claims by sending FIFA a letter of confirmation.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) threatens to play a major role in the Test campaign between England and the West Indies even before a ball is bowled in Wednesday's series opener here at Lord's.

England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff has already been ruled out of the two-Test series after sustaining a knee injury playing in the lucrative Twenty20 event.

And West Indies captain Chris Gayle only arrived in England following his IPL stint in South Africa in the early hours of Monday morning.

On his day, opening batsman Gayle can blast a big score against any attack.

But West Indies coach John Dyson is unhappy the left-hander, who in March led his side to a 1-0 Test series win over England in the Caribbean, has given himself so little time to acclimatise to local conditions.

However, not all players need plenty of nets and lots of rest to be at their best and Dyson is banking on Gayle's "big-match" temperament asserting itself in the first of a two-Test series.

But the former Australia opening batsman was clearly unhappy Gayle had been allowed to leave it so late before joining the team.

"Chris is a big-match player - he handles pressure, all sorts of it, very well. He's played magnificent cricket in all forms of the game over the last 12 months," Dyson told reporters at Lord's on Monday.

"He says he's in good touch, seeing the ball well.

"The board gave him clearance until May 2 - but then our board considered an extra day or two didn't matter, so that's that.

"Medical science says that everyone gets jet-lag. If your flying time is 10, 12 hours you probably need a couple of days to recover properly from the flight.

"Then you need a couple of nets and probably a practice game. That would be the minimum I would see as being ideal."

Sri Lanka were due to be England's opponents for this series, only to withdraw because of their players' IPL commitments.

As it is West Indies fast bowler Fidel Edwards only arrived following his IPL stint on Sunday while the other England players involved in the tournament apart from Flintoff - Ravi Bopara, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood - have not long been in the country either.

"We all knew that the IPL was on and we knew that the players would be arriving when they have - late," said Dyson.

This will be the earliest Test ever staged in an English season and so far the West Indies have struggled to adjust to the local environment.

Draws with Leicestershire and Essex were followed by a 10-wicket thrashing at the hands of the England Lions.

There is no doubt the tourists will be looking to the likes of Gayle and the obdurate Shivnarine Chanderpaul, long a thorn in England's side, to stiffen their batting.

One factor in their favour could be the Lord's pitch.

The last six Tests there have been draws but England have struggled to bowl sides out twice anywhere in recent times - they failed to take 20 wickets in any of their 'winter' Tests in India and the Caribbean.

That has led to England freshening up their attack by calling in the likes of uncapped pace duo Graham Onions and Tim Bresnan in a 12-man squad, the first since Andy Flower was confirmed as their new head coach.

Both seamers are set to play at Lord's with Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar contesting what is likely to be the lone spot for a spinner.

Onions has effectively replaced fellow Durham quick Stephen Harmison in the squad, England appearing to have lost patience with the talented paceman whose temperament has never quite seemed the equal of his physical gifts. LONDON, AFP