Argentine Pizzi named the 23-man squad shortly after Saudi Arabia fell to a 3-0 defeat to Peru in a friendly in St. Gallen, Switzerland on Sunday and Al Abed missing out wasn't a big surprise as the Al Hilal player was coming off a season blighted by injuries.

Al Abed came on as a substitute against Peru but Pizzi obviously must have felt that taking him to Russia would be risky.

His absence, however, will be a blow as Al Abed scored four goals in Saudi Arabia's qualifying campaign - a haul that helped seal a return to the FIFA World Cup for the first time since the 2016 edition.

Overview

Japan’s preparation for Russia 2018 has not been the most straightforward of Asia's representatives, with coach Vahid Halilhodzic departing the helm just two months before the competition to be replaced with technical director Akira Nishino.

The former Gamba Osaka boss attempted a new three-man defence in his first match in charge, a 2-0 defeat at home to Ghana on May 30, as well as offering a reprieve to big names Shinji Kagawa, Keisuke Honda, and Shinji Okazaki, whose places were in doubt under Halilhodzic.

Head coach Shin Tae-yong and his 23 players will settle down in Leogang, in the state of Salzburg, and play two more tune-up matches there before hopping over to Saint Petersburg on June 12.

Drawn in Group F, the 61st-ranked Korea Republic are scheduled to play World No 23 Sweden at Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod on June 18, followed by the 15th-ranked Mexico at Rostov Arena, Rostov-on-Don, on June 23.

The Taeguk Warriors' final Group F opponents will be Germany, the defending champions and World No 1, at Kazan Arena in Kazan on June 27.

Saudi Arabia made their World Cup bow in 1994 in the United States, and have only missed out on two editions since then, namely South Africa 2010 and Brazil 2014. Here are the top three highlights of their four World Cup campaigns.