"We didn't show enough self-confidence to keep possession of ⁠the ball ​in order to change their tempo, so that meant that ​we had pressure near our box," admitted Saudi Arabia tactician Donis.

"Thankfully we had an excellent goalkeeper and an excellent defence today."

While Saudi Arabia were on top in the first half and took the lead through Abdulelah Al Amri in the 41st minute, they were of the ropes for most of the second period, with Uruguay's incessant pressure resulting in the equaliser through Maxi Araujo in the 80th minute.

"We can say in the first half we had good control over the play and we had opportunities to ​score without being very ​decisive," said Donis.

"In the ⁠second half, if someone analyses it, one can say that a possible scenario was that we had the lead and we thought mostly defensive. We ​had already scored and we wanted to keep that.

"Were we, perhaps, tired ​in the second ⁠half? It appeared to be that in the second half we didn't have the same intensity. Our opponent was able to go deeper into our half."

Donis, who replaced Herve Renard as head coach just weeks before the FIFA World Cup, admitted that he was still learning about his players.

"Currently I'm trying to learn my team, I'm trying to learn my players and ​get to know them. I see how they react and behave and what I've seen is that, ​due to the lack of time, we cannot be flexible during the match."

Saudi Arabia face another huge test on Sunday, with former world champions Spain their opponents.