Argentina took a 1-0 lead when Messi converted a penalty in the 10th minute. Saleh Alshehri scored a tight-angle goal for Saudi Arabia in the 48th minute. Five minutes later, Saudi Arabia won a historic game with a curler from Salem Aldawsari. With the loss, Argentina fell short of matching Italy’s unbeaten run of 37 games. The Argentina national team was unbeaten for 36 matches under manager Lionel Scaloni before this year’s World Cup.
Since 2019, La Albiceleste has been streaking. Brazil lost to Argentina on July 3, 2019, the last time Argentina lost. In 1930, Argentina lost to Uruguay after leading at halftime in its World Cup match. Argentina had 25 wins, and 11 draws before its win against Saudi Arabia. Argentina won the Copa America 2021, beating Brazil 1-0 in the final to capture the title. After losing the 2014 World Cup final to Germany, Argentina lost the pre-quarterfinal to France four years later in Russia.
It has been a dramatic change for Argentina since those fateful five minutes in the second half. Instead of grudgingly applauding a 36-game unbeaten run, murmurs have arisen about the possibility of Qatar 2022 becoming the first top team to be eliminated. Losing here would spell the end.
However, its qualification is still far from certain after a goalless draw in the other Group C match. One day after the second anniversary of Diego Maradona’s death, there’s a desire to rebuild and bring some joy. Our thoughts are always with him on this great day. This was a sad day for us because he was a global icon and an important national team member. Lautaro Martinez, who had two strikes ruled out for offside on Tuesday, hopes to bring some joy through his game tomorrow.” Lionel Scaloni trusts his process, and there is no sense of panic. We do not intend to change our style because of the other game’s outcome. “The group is ready to bounce back after the emotional blow of the first day,” the coach said. The game has been assessed, and we might introduce some variables, as Mexico has a clear style of play with an offensive focus. As well as our style, it is not negotiable.
World Cup shocker: Saudi Arabia stuns Argentina’s Lionel Messi
There was supposed to be something different this time. It wasn’t supposed to end the same way as every other time, with slumped shoulders, distant stares, and hollow grimaces for Lionel Messi. The things that happened in Qatar were not supposed to be as bad as what happened to arguably one of the greatest players of all time in the colors of Barcelona on those evenings in Rome, Liverpool, and Lisbon, never mind in the albiceleste of Argentina in Rio de Janeiro. It wasn’t in a way.
Compared to what it was before, it was much worse. Argentine Olympic players arrived in Qatar to ensure that Messi would remember the final World Cup as providing him with the brilliant, golden glow that can only be conferred on him by this tournament, the ultimate triumph. Instead, it must now face the haunting possibility that it will forever be synonymous with one of its darkest humiliations, one of the greatest upsets in the World Cup’s history. Losing to Saudi Arabia by 2-1 was an embarrassment, a disgrace, and a stigma inflicted upon Argentina before 88,000 screaming fans were televised worldwide and streamed live on television.
Argentinian players seemed visibly diminished by the end, their faces drawn, their eyes haunted by the delirious Saudi substitutes. Messi stands out among them all. The look has been worn more often than he would like over the past few years. He has become more familiar with it than you might expect for a legend of his stature.
Saudi Arabia beats Argentina 2-1 in its World Cup Opening
One of the biggest World Cup upsets ever saw Saudi Arabia upset Lionel Messi’s Argentina squad. Tuesday, Saudi Arabia defeated Kuwait 2-1 after scoring two goals within five minutes of the second half. When Messi scored a 10th-minute penalty, the Gulf state looked set for another defeat after winning only three of its previous 16 matches on the world stage. In the 35-year-old’s first World Cup match, he became only the fifth player to net at four tournaments, but Argentina’s 36-match unbeaten sequence ended. Currently, the victors occupy 51st place in FIFA’s global rankings, second only to World Cup hosts Qatar. Argentinian is third, just behind Brazilian and Belgian.
It was an all-too-familiar scene for Messi when he walked over to the Saudi coaching staff member after the final whistle and stood with his hands on his hips near the center circle – a scene that he has experienced many times over the years as one of the best players ever who still has yet to win the biggest prize in football. There was a somersault that Aldawsari performed to seal the unlikely victory. He came down just inside the penalty box, turned one defender, jinked past another, and then hit a powerful shot past Emi Martinez, who, although he managed to get his hands on the ball, could not keep it out of the net. In disbelief, Messi watched in awe as scores of Saudi Arabians, Qatar’s neighboring country, celebrated in the stands as he watched the team celebrate in addition to him. The Saudi Arabian substitutes stormed the pitch at the start of the match.
