As reported by the Telegraph, Argentina lost miserably against a confident Saudi Arabia side by a 2-1 scoreline. The Middle East team went from a goal down to stun Lionel Scaloni’s team in their opening World Cup match.
Saudi Arabia gave the world of football one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history after putting up a brave show against a star-studded Argentina team. Eyebrows were raised when the manager decided to keep Lisandro Martinez out of the starting XI in favour of Benfica’s Nicolas Otamendi.
However, the decision proved to be too costly for the team as the middle east side simply outplayed the South American champions in all aspects. After being 1-0 up within 10 minutes, many believed that the Lionel Messi-led Argentina side will be prepared for a thumping win over their mediocre opponents.
However, even after keeping 70% of the possession, they were unable to overcome Saudi Arabia’s high press and resolute defence. Herve Renard’s side maintained a high line and never gave Argentina a glimpse of the goal. It was a mastermind plan by a manager who has previously helped Zambia and Ivory Coast win the African Cup of Nations in the year 2012 and 2015, respectively.
The South American pair of Christian Romero and Nicolas Otamendi was unable to stop their opponents from sneaking into the box. This resulted in S. Al-Shehri and S. Al-Dawsari scoring two goals within five minutes to stun the Argentine fans.
Saudi Arabia goalkeeper M. Al-Owais was equally strong against a powerful Argentine attacking line-up. Scaloni tried to shift the momentum of the game by bringing in Lisandro Martinez in the 70th minute.
It worked well for the South American champions as they didn’t concede a goal after the 24-year-old’ arrival on the pitch as they looked more stable with his presence in defence. The fans will be scratching their head at the manager’s decision to keep Martinez on the bench in a World Cup opening match. Whether the manager wanted to rest the United centre-back or had some other plans, is still unclear.
But the middle east team were successful in ending Argentina’s unbeaten run of 36 games. The Messi-led side was unable to break the record set by Italy (37).
The World Cup has always provided an underdog team and who knows, Saudi Arabia could be the one we are looking for.
Meanwhile, Argentina will be taking this defeat seriously, and the fans will hope that the manager utilizes his key players especially Martinez in every possible match.
