Non-Arab African teams like Nigeria and Senegal have acquitted themselves better, with each of them having won one match so far in the World Cup group stage.

"African teams have capabilities lacking in the Arab world. Their players are physically fit, tall, strong and fast. They have many footballers playing at high levels in Europe, which makes a big difference too," said Ismail.

Farouk Gaafar, a retired star of Egypt's popular Zamalek football club, described the performance of Arab teams in the World Cup as "so weak."

"For many Arabs, merely qualifying for the World Cup has become an achievement, rather than demonstrating good abilities and distinguished performances in the competition," Gaafar told Xinhua.

"The players don't try hard enough in training or in matches. Many of them don't regularly attend training camps and friendly games. All these factors affect the general performance," added the former midfielder.

The 2018 World Cup opener on June 14 saw Saudi Arabia lose 5-0 to hosts Russia.

"The big scorelines and the fact that many goals were scored against Arab teams indicate the big difference between Arab soccer and that of European and Latin American teams," Gaafar noted.

Arab soccer fans have been surprised and disappointed by the results in Russia, with some of them posting mockingly on social media websites that FIFA should stand for "football isn't for Arabs."

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