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LUSAIL, Qatar – Unheralded Saudi Arabia notched one of many greatest shocks in World Cup historical past on Tuesday with a 2-1 win over Lionel Messi’s Argentina because of a scintillating second half come again.
On his fifth and ultimate quest for the one main trophy to elude him, the 35-year-old Messi scored a tenth minute penalty in a dominant first half show the place he and Lautaro Martinez additionally had three objectives disallowed for offside.
But Saudi Arabia, the second-lowest ranked group within the event after Ghana, threw warning to the wind at first of the second half, charging at Argentina’s defence in entrance of a frenzied 88,012 crowd.
Saleh Al-Shehri squeezed in a low shot within the forty eighth minute whereas Salem Al-Dawsari curled in a scorching strike from the sting of the penalty space within the 53rd minute to depart Argentina and Messi trying totally shell-shocked within the Group C opener.
Despite loads of possession after that, Argentina had been unable to penetrate Saudi Arabia, who had been competing of their sixth World Cup however had by no means beforehand received a gap sport.
‘FULFIL OUR DREAMS’
The whole sport was performed in a rare ambiance on the Lusail Stadium, with Argentina’s historically huge and raucous following matched by the hundreds of Saudis who had come over the border to cheer on their group.
“Our team fulfils our dreams!” and “Where is Messi? We beat him!”, the green-clad Saudis chanted again and again within the Lusail Stadium, on their ft and greeting each clearance from their defence with a deafening roar.
Both groups have Mexico and Poland to return, with Argentina needing an instantaneous response if Messi is to have a sensible likelihood of matching Diego Maradona’s immortality in his homeland by bringing residence the World Cup.
The outcome broke Argentina’s superb 36-match undefeated run and stopped them from matching the earlier worldwide report of 37 video games unbeaten held by Italy.
-Reuters
