At the 2022 World Cup soccer tournament in Qatar, Argentina, with star
Lionel Messi (1987-), Argentine footballer
A penalty kick before the end of the half gave Saudi Arabia a 1-0 lead. However, the Saudis unleashed a second half onslaught, scoring twice in just five minutes to take a 2-1
unexpected turnaround
The win snapped Argentina's unbeaten streak of 36 consecutive international matches.
The World Cup soccer tournament has 32 teams competing in eight groups, with Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and Poland in Group C. The team will play their first match of the tournament against Saudi Arabia. Argentina, led by Lionel Messi, faced Saudi Arabia in the first match of the group stage.
Less than two minutes into the match, Argentina went on the offensive, with Messi's first attempt on goal being parried away by the Saudi Arabian goalkeeper. In the 10th minute, Messi took another shot, this time scoring to give Argentina the lead.
The goal was not only Messi's seventh in the World Cup, but also the fifth time in his career that he has scored in all four World Cups.
In the 22nd minute, Messi took a pass from a teammate and took a one-touch shot, but it was ruled offside. Lautaro Martínez then had two shots on goal ruled offside and the goal was disallowed.
Argentina had 54% possession in the first half, but things took a turn for the worse in the second half. Saudi Arabia capitalized on the first two chances on goal and Saleh Al Shehri broke through in the 48th minute to make it 1-1.
Saudi Arabia then rallied to take a 2-1 lead thanks to a breakthrough by Salem Al Dawsari in the 53rd minute with a long shot from outside the box.
Argentina had a number of attacks in the second half that were deflected by Saudi Arabian goalkeeper Mohammed Al Owais. In the 80th minute, Messi had a free kick but missed the equalizer with a shot from too high an angle. In the 84th minute, Messi attempted a header, but it was parried away by the goalkeeper.
As the match entered injury time, Argentine players once again closed in on the Saudi Arabian goal, but Saudi Arabia's Abdulelah Al Amri stepped up to the plate and helped defuse the crisis with a successful header. The final score was 2-1 in favor of Saudi Arabia.
unexpected turnaround
Winning the first game.
Argentina, currently ranked third in the world, won the 1978 and 1986 World Cups and last reached the final in 2014 but went down 0-1 to Germany. And Saudi Arabia, ranked 51st in the world, reached the round of 16 on their World Cup group stage debut in 1994, but have failed to break out of the group stage since.
It has been a long time since Argentina tasted defeat since their 0-2 loss to Brazil in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Copa America. However, this time around, Argentina suffered a tough encounter against Saudi Arabia in their opening group stage match at the Qatar World Cup and ended their unbeaten streak of 36 consecutive international matches.
