The Argentines made a strong start against Saudi Arabia in their first match in Group C at the World Cup in Qatar, but they only scored from a penalty kick awarded after a mistake in the first half. Lionel Messi record.
After the turnaround, the Asians turned things against the Copa América winners and turned the game around within five minutes. They held the score until nearly the end of 14 minutes of overtime, so one of the tournament’s biggest contenders started the tournament with a bang.
The Saudis have not beaten the Argentines in their previous four matches. The South Americans who won the South American World Cup started with a defeat in 1990, but since then – with six wins and one draw – they have gone unbeaten in their opening matches.
The Argentine national team had not lost 36 matches since the start of July 2019 – with 25 wins and 11 draws – and was one match away from equaling the Italians’ record of 37,
that were created between 2018 and 2021.
As expected, Lionel Messi was in the Argentine national team as captain, and the seven-time Golden Ball winner played in the World Cup for the fifth time, joining the top four: German Lothar Matthaus, Italian Gianluigi Buffon, Mexican Antonio Carvajal and Rafael Marquez.
The Argentines started with great momentum, and Messi could score in the second minute with a shot into the bottom right corner. Soon after, he scored 11 goals, making him the first Argentine footballer to score in four World Cups. The South Americans did not push the Saudis in front of their goal, so they managed to lead a quick counterattack several times after winning the ball. And three of them ended with a goal, but due to offside – the first two goals according to the VAR signal – they were all canceled by the referee.
Throughout the first half, the Argentines played more seriously, but at the beginning of the second half the Saudis unexpectedly equalized.
Thanks to an accurate finish from Al Seheri, who had a good exit, five minutes later they also took the lead with a good shot from Al Defasari.
Lionel Scaloni, captain of the struggling South American national team, made three substitutions. The Argentine team tried, but they woven their attacks slowly and clumsily, so they couldn’t create much danger in front of the Middle East goal. With this, the first major World Cup upset was born.
In the encore, the Saudi goalkeeper tackled his teammate, Jasser Al-Sahrani, who was carried off the field on a stretcher.
I. Half
8-10. The minute: Kano Paredes drove to the ground inside the 16-yard box after a free kick from the Argentine left, the referee awarded a penalty with the help of VAR, which Messi took and calmly passed to the right side of the goal to award a penalty kick. Leading Team (1-0)
Secondly. half the time
The 48th minute: Saleh Al-Sahri started from the middle a little to the left of Romero with the ball and hit the long corner (1-1).
The 53rd minute: Stalls Al Defsari deceived several Argentines in the left corner of the 16th, then screwed his right into the upper left corner (1-2).
Editorial photo: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
