On Tuesday, an unannounced Saudi Arabia pulled off one of the biggest defeats in World Cup history, beating Lionel Messi’s Argentina 2-1 thanks to a brilliant second-half comeback.
In his fifth and final quest for one major trophy that eludes him, the 35-year-old Messi scored a 10th-minute penalty in a dominant first-half match in which he and Lautaro Martinez also missed three goals. outside. games.
But Saudi Arabia, the lowest-ranked team in the tournament after Ghana, shed caution early in the second half, rushing to Argentina’s defense in front of a frenzied crowd of 88,012.
Saleh Al Shehri hit a low blow in the 48th minute and Salem Al Dausari fired a searing shot from the edge of the box in the 53rd minute, leaving Argentina and Messi completely shaken in the Group C first leg.
Despite Argentina having a lot of possession after that, Argentina were unable to get past Saudi Arabia, who were in their sixth World Cup but had never won the opening match before.
“COMPLETE OUR DREAMS”
The entire game was played in an extraordinary atmosphere at the Lusail stadium, where the traditionally large and noisy Argentine public was no less than the thousands of Saudis who came from abroad to cheer on their team.
“Our team makes our dreams come true!” and “Where is Messi? We beat him!” chanted the green-clad Saudis at Lusail Stadium over and over again, rising to their feet and cheering each strike with their defense to a deafening roar.
Both teams have Mexico and Poland, and Argentina needs an immediate response if Messi is to have a realistic chance of repeating Diego Maradona’s immortality in his homeland by bringing home the World Cup.
The result snapped Argentina’s astonishing 36-match unbeaten run and prevented them from equaling Italy’s previous international record of 37 unbeaten matches.
