Saudi Arabia 2-1 Argentina: Saudi Arabia stun Argentina in their opening match of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in group C at the Lusail Stadium on Tuesday.
Messi gave Argentina the lead before strikes from Al-Shehri and Al-Dawsari turned the game in favour of Saudi, as they held on for a massive win.
FIRST HALF
Argentina began the game on the front-foot and within 10 minutes of the half got the lead through the mercurial, Messi. They were awarded a penalty after VAR spotted a foul on Paredes in a free-kick build up.
Messi rolled it home comfortably to score his 7th goal in World Cups and became the first Argentine to score in 4 WC’s.
Argentina found the net a further three times, twice by Martinez and once by Messi but were all disallowed for offside.
Saudi did not manage a single effort in the first half and looked by far 2nd best between the two sides.
Lionel Messi scores his first goal of the 2022 World Cup 🤩 pic.twitter.com/vtj0p5JvAC
— GOAL (@goal) November 22, 2022
SECOND HALF
Saudi began the second half in spectacular fashion as Al-Shehri got around Romero and found the bottom right corner to equalize.
The Asian side got possession by dispossessing Messi and a smooth build up got them back on level terms.
Within a trice, Saudi doubled their lead through Al-Dawsari as he stunned the Argentina team with a stunning curling effort into the far corner. Due to poor defending, he managed to hold the ball before unleashing a cracking effort.
Owais made some spectacular saves off Martinez, Messi and Alvarez with a man of the match display.
Saudi defended for their lives in the remainder of the game whereas Argentina played catch up and lacked any decisiveness in plans to find the equalizer.
Eventually, Saudi held on to ensure a first upset of the World Cup by beating Argentina 2-1.
Saudia Arabia have ended Argentina’s 36-game unbeaten streak in the first game of the World Cup ❌ pic.twitter.com/ovq9FBWjtt
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) November 22, 2022
