Saudi Arabia drew 2-2 with Iraq on Wednesday in the first match of Saudi Arabia coach Marcos Paqueta's team’s exhaustive World Cup warm-up schedule.

For Saudi Arabia’s ‘Al Sugour’, or ‘Falcons’, the match against Iraq in Jeddah was the first of eight matches arranged prior to the World Cup Finals in June.

Midfield playmaker Nawaf Al Temyat opened the scoring for the Saudi’s in the 13th minute, only for Iraq to draw level just 10 minutes later with an equaliser from M Nasir in a nervy first half.

The Saudi captain, striker Sami al-Jaber scored the second goal to re-take the lead in the 59th minute, but Iraq levelled the scores again in the dying moments of the game with a strike from Abdul Amir to draw the match.

The Al Sugour have a further two matches scheduled for March, with Paqueta’s team taking on Uruguay on March 18 and fellow World Cup finalist’s Poland on March 28.

April sees only one match with the Saudi’s meeting the African Cup of Nations champions, Egypt, on April 19.

In May the Al Sugour face the final set of friendlies for Paqueta’s team, who will be facing the hosts of the 2010 World Cup, South Africa, in Bremen on May 16 and fellow World Cup finalists Mexico just four days later in the same stadium.

Later in May, the team travel to Austria to face the Czech Republic in Innsbruck on May 26, followed by a return to Germany to play Romania on May 31 will see the Al Sugour needing a well earned rest before their first match in the tournament, against Spain, in Leipzig on June 14.

Goals:
N Al Temyat (13)
M Nasir (23)
S Al Jaber (59)
H Abdul Amir (90)

Saudi Arabia starting line-up:

H Al Montashari, R Tukar, O Al Ghamdi, N Al Temyat, S Khariri, M Noor, S Al Jaber, M Al-Anber, K Al-Mosa, M Masad, Y Musailem.

Saudi Arabia substitutions:

S Al Harthi for S Al Jaber (69)
M Ameen for M Al-Anber (69)
M Shalhoob for M Noor (69)
A Dokhi for M Masad (78)
Y Al Qahtani for N Al Temyat (78)
A Al Bahri for R Tukar (90)

Iraq starting line-up:

N Sabri, H Abdul Amir, Y Raad, H Khadim Taher, Q Munir, A Salah, J Haji, A Hussain, Mohammad Nasir, L Saleh, W Zaki.

Iraq substitutions:

S Abdulla for L Saleh (70)
H Kazem for A Salah (80)
S Rasheed for Q Munir (86)
A Dokhi for M Masad (78)

Yellow Cards : Wesam Zaki (Iraq, 53)

Red Cards: None