Unheralded Saudi Arabia have pulled off one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history with a 2-1 win over Lionel Messi’s Argentina thanks to a scintillating second-half comeback.
On his fifth and final quest for the only major trophy to elude him, the 35-year-old Messi scored a 10th minute penalty in a dominant first-half display on Tuesday in which he and Lautaro Martinez also had three goals disallowed for offside.
But Saudi Arabia, the second-lowest ranked team in the tournament after Ghana, threw caution to the wind at the start of the second half, charging at Argentina’s defence in front of a frenzied 88,012 crowd.
Saleh Al-Shehri squeezed in a low shot in the 48th minute while Salem Al-Dawsari curled in a scorching strike from the edge of the penalty area in the 53rd minute to leave Argentina and Messi looking utterly shell-shocked in the group C opener.
Despite plenty of possession after that, Argentina were unable to penetrate Saudi Arabia, who were competing in their sixth World Cup but had never previously won an opening game.
The entire game was played in an extraordinary atmosphere at the Lusail Stadium, with Argentina’s traditionally massive and raucous following matched by the thousands of Saudis who had come over the border to cheer on their team.
“Our team fulfils our dreams!” and “Where is Messi? We beat him!”, the green-clad Saudis chanted over and over, on their feet and greeting every clearance from their defence with a deafening roar.
(Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
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 revived old question marks over Argentina’s defence and broke their amazing 36-match undefeated run. That stopped them from matching the previous international record of 37 games unbeaten held by Italy.
It also marred Messi’s achievement of becoming the first Argentinian to score in four World Cups on his 20th appearance in the tournament.
Only Maradona has played more games for Argentina at the World Cup, 21 in all.
“This hurts a lot. We were dreaming of starting the World Cup with a win,” said Messi’s strike partner Martinez. “But it’s happened and now we have to train and think forward.
“We lost this game because of our own mistakes, most of all in the second half. There are details that make a difference and we need to correct our mistakes.”
It had all looked so different at the start when the marauding Messi nearly scored in the opening seconds, celebrated joyfully after sending Saudi goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais the wrong way with his penalty, then had another goal disallowed.
The Saudis’ feat was all the more remarkable given the departure of their influential captain and midfielder Salman Al Faraj just after halftime, clutching a hamstring.
Argentina’s last defeat was by Brazil in the semi-finals of the Copa America in July 2019. They are ranked third, 48 places above Saudi Arabia, by world football’s governing body FIFA.
Argentina’s last defeat in their opening match at a World Cup was against Cameroon in 1990 – but they went on to reach the final.
At the Education City Stadium, Australia’s World Cup group rivals Denmark and Tunisia fought out an entertaining but goalless draw after a dramatic finish.
It looked as if it would be heartbreak for Tunisia when VAR asked Mexican referee Cesar Ramos to go to the pitchside monitor at the Education City Stadium.
Christian Eriksen’s corner had struck the arm of Yassine Meriah, but the ball was shown to have come off the chest of the Tunisia defender – and referee Ramos, unusually, stuck with his on-field decision.
Eriksen had made a fairytale World Cup start with the Manchester United midfielder back at a major tournament 16 months after collapsing from a cardiac arrest at Euro 2020.
Denmark reached the semi-finals of that tournament without their talisman, and head coach Kasper Hjulmand said on Monday that his side had come to Qatar to win the World Cup.
But, for much of an absorbing contest, Denmark – ranked 10th in the world and 20 places above Tunisia – were knocked out of their stride by opponents with a point to prove.
Tunisia could count on huge support with Doha home to a large Tunisian population and the north Africans created a raucous atmosphere, giving the feeling that this was an away game for Denmark.
The Danes’ first objective was to silence the Tunisian fans and escape the shackles placed on their midfield trio Eriksen, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Thomas Delaney.
Mohamed Drager gave the first sign of Tunisia’s intent with a deflected shot that flew just wide with Kasper Schmeichel rooted to the spot.
Skipper Youssef Msakni headed over the resulting corner and Tunisia continued to press with the lively Issam Jebali a constant concern for the Denmark defence.
Jebali had the ball in the net midway through the first period, but he had just strayed offside from Dylan Bronn’s pass and Tunisian celebrations were cut short.
Joachim Andersen and Hojbjerg forced routine stops from Ayman Dahmen in the Tunisia goal, but Denmark were fortunate not to fall behind two minutes before the interval.
Andreas Skov Olsen thought he had given Denmark the lead after 55 minutes when he drove home from 12 yards.
Mikkel Damsgaard, on a substitute for the injured Delaney, was well offside in the build-up but Denmark – and Eriksen in particular – slowly began to exert authority,
Kasper Dolberg headed wide and Eriksen’s 20-yard effort was palmed away by Dahmen before Tunisia had an amazing escape.
Andreas Christensen directed Eriksen’s corner back across goal and Andreas Cornelius somehow failed to bundle the ball over the line from a yard out, instead touching it against a post.
Poland captain Robert Lewandowski has failed to break his World Cup duck, seeing his second-half penalty saved in an entertaining goalless draw with Mexico at Stadium 974.
Lewandowski earned the penalty after a VAR check 11 minutes into the second half of Tuesday’s group C opener when Hector Moreno tugged at his shirt in the box.
But the Polish striker, who has never scored at the World Cup, saw his shot saved by goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa.
In a temporary arena built using 974 recycled shipping containers that overlooks the Arabian Gulf, a sea of Mexico fans in green outnumbered their Polish counterparts and they made their presence felt in the 40,000-capacity venue.
A flowing game of few fouls but fewer chances came to life around the half-hour mark when Alexis Vega saw his header fly wide before Jesus Gallardo was denied with a last-man tackle when he had an open goal at his mercy two minutes later.
Mexico had the bulk of the possession but without Raul Jimenez spearheading the attack, Henry Martin struggled to get on the end of chances in the box.
At the other end, Poland failed to get Lewandowski involved as the Barcelona striker – who has scored 18 goals for the Spanish club this season – received little service as both keepers finished the first half without having to make a save.
With Poland losing the midfield battle, coach Czeslaw Michniewicz made a halftime substitution by hauling off Nicola Zalewski and bringing on central midfielder Krystian Bielik, which allowed Piotr Zielinski to play in an advanced role.
The tactical change seemed to work initially as Poland began creating chances and eventually won the penalty which Lewandowski shot low but Ochoa guessed correctly and dived to his left to deny the skipper.
Not to be outdone by Ochoa’s brilliance in goal, Polish keeper Wojciech Szczesny also underlined his credentials moments later when he reacted quickly to change direction and deny Martin’s glancing header that was on target.
Mexico coach Gerardo Martino replaced Martin and brought on Jimenez with 20 minutes to go in the second half but the Wolverhampton Wanderers striker, who is returning from a long injury lay-off, failed to have a shot on goal.
The result leaves Saudi Arabia as group leaders following their stunning 2-1 upset of Argentina, one of the pre-tournament favourites, earlier in the day.
© AAP
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