Saudi Arabia down Messi’s Argentina in one of FIFA World Cup’s biggest upsets

Saudi Arabia registered their biggest victory in FIFA World Cup history by stunning Argentina 2-1 in a Group C match at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar on Tuesday. It took only five matches and three days for this editions FIFA World Cup to get one of the upsets. This was Saudi Arabia’s only third victory in World Cup finals.

Messi’s quest to win the one major title to elude him got off to a shocking start and brought back memories of Cameroon’s 1-0 win over an Argentina team led by Diego Maradona in the opening game of the 1990 World Cup.

This also rivals shocking results such as Senegal beating then-titleholder France 1-0 in the 2002 tournament opener and the United States stunning England by the same score in 1950.

Goals by Saleh Alshehri and Salem Aldawsari in a five-minute span in the second half gave the Saudis their greatest win.

As ironical as it may sound, it was Messi, who opened the scoreline with a penalty kick rolled to give Argentina a 10th-minute lead. There were debates about the decision to award the penalty as many believed the challenge was a ‘soft one’. Messi became the only Argentine player to score in four FIFA World Cups with that goal.

Argentina were all over Saudi Arabia in the first half. Martinez even put the ball in the back of the net but he was found to offside. On another day, Argentina could well have gone into the break with a 3-0 lead but it wasn’t to be.

The one-goal cushion evaporated quickly in the second as Alshehri scored in the 48th minute. That was believe it or not, Saudi Arabia’s first shot on goal.

Five minutes later, Salem Al-Dawsari curled in a scorching strike from the edge of the penalty area to leave Argentina’s defence shell-shocked in front of a frenzied 88,012 crowd.

Both teams have Mexico and Poland to come, with Argentina needing an immediate reaction if Messi is to have a realistic chance of matching Diego Maradona’s immortality in his homeland by bringing home the World Cup.

Both teams have Mexico and Poland to come, with Argentina needing an immediate reaction if Messi is to have a realistic chance of matching Diego Maradona’s immortality in his homeland by bringing home the World Cup.

The result broke Argentina’s amazing 36-match undefeated run and stopped them from matching the previous international record of 37 games unbeaten held by Italy.