The World’s 53rd-ranked side Saudi Arabia produced an astonishing second-half comeback to stun pre-tournament favourites Argentina 2-1 in Group E as a goal from Al Dawsari handed them a shock 2-1 win in one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history.
The result, which ended Argentina’s impressive 36 game unbeaten streak in the process, sends shockwaves through the tournament, and is the first major upset of the 2022 edition. It leaves the Albiceleste without a point, and now needing results against both Mexico and Poland to make it out of the group stages,
📰 Table Of Contents
How it happened
The South Americans dominated the ball in the early part of the game, with Lionel Messi seeing a snapshot well saved before VAR awarded the Albiceleste a penalty just seven minutes in for a shirt pull from a corner. Argentina’s no.10 duly converted, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way from 12 yards, and setting his side on his way.
He had the ball in the net a second time midway through the second half, only for it to be ruled out for offside, with the Saudi Arabia high defensive line working to good effect.
LIONEL MESSI HAS ARRIVED! 🇦🇷🙌
Argentina’s number 10 gets his first goal of World Cup 2022 from the penalty spot inside 10 minutes!!#ITVFootball | #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/eUxnno9m7v
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) November 22, 2022
Lautaro Martinez twice also thought that he had grabbed the second goal for his side with two sumptuous finishes, but on both occasions he too was flagged offside as Saudi Arabia’s high line clung on to half-time.
Then, moments into the second half, they were suddenly level. A long ball from back to front was knocked down to Saleh Al-Shehri, who held off Cristian Romero to slot through his legs and past Emiliano Martinez.
Whatever Hervé Renard said to his players at half-time, it worked!! 🤩@SaudiNT_EN have gone 2-1 up against one of the competition favourites Argentina with this belter!! 🚀#ITVFootball | #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/uHdXpjUAdm
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) November 22, 2022
Argentina continued to attempt to find a breakthrough, but headers from Julian Alvarez and Lionel Messi were straight at the goalkeeper, and the Saudi Arabia side clung onto for an additional 14 minutes of added time to ensure a historic victory for the underdogs, and one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history.
Player ratings
Argentina
GK: Emiliano Martinez – 5
Got a hand on Al Dawsari’s strike but not enough to keep it out
RB: Nahuel Molina – 5
Solid but couldn’t really effect the game and didn’t get close enough to Al Dawsari for the second goal.
CB: Cristian Romero – 4
Never looked comfortable and may still be nursing the injury that he had ahead of the tournament. Running through treacle for the Saudi Arabia equaliser.
CB: Nicolas Otamendi – 5
The better of the two but not by much. Leaves nerves jangling everytime he is in the vicinity.
LB: Nicolas Tagliafico – 5
Offered very little in either box and was taken off after 70 minutes.
CDM: Rodrigo de Paul – 6
Got on the ball a lot but was unable to find the runners in behind the Saudi defence anywhere near often enough.
CDM: Leandro Paredes – 5
One of his side’s better players in the first half, he was all at sea at the beginning of the second and was taken off before the hour.
RM: Papu Gomez – 4
Largely ineffective and was taken off after falling 2-1 behind.
CAM: Lionel Messi – 4
Looked oddly off the pace, misplacing several of his passes in the first half. Fired over from a promising free kick, and will almost certainly have better outings this tournament.
LM: Angel di Maria – 7
Looked bright and was the main threat for the Albiceleste, but his cut-backs were well marshalled by the Saudi backline.
ST: Lautaro Martinez – 5
Produced two fine finishes but was offside for both in the first 45 minutes. Offered very little in the second half.
Substitutes
Julian Alvarez – 6
Saw an effort cleared off the line and a header straight at the goalkeeper, but was largely starved of service.
Lisandro Martinez – 5
Unlucky not to start, and was tidy but could only watch on as his forwards failed.
Enzo Fernandez – 5
Tidy on the ball and fired in one dangerous fizzing cross, but was unable to turn the tide.
Marcos Acuna – 4
Did nothing when coming on.
Saudi Arabia
GK: Mohammed Al Owais – 8
Made several very important saves to keep his side in the game and cling on to a historic victory.
RB: Saud Abdulhamid – 8
Excellent defensively and worked well as part of Saudi Arabia’s high defensive line.
CB: Ali Al Bulayhi – 8
The 33 year old used all of his experience to good effect, turning in a great performance in the heart of Saudi Arabia’s backline, though he will be thankful that Argentina were far from their attacking best.
CB: Hassan Tambakti – 9
Always looked susceptible to forwards running in behind but worked the offside trap to perfection (just) throughout the game and was colossal when it came to stopping the Argentine crosses into the box.
LB: Yasir Al Shahrani – 6
The defender had a tough time against Angel di Maria, who regularly got the better of him, but stuck to his task well. Took a horrid knee to the head in the dying seconds.
RM: Saleh Al-Shehri – 7
Stayed calm to produce a fine finish for the equaliser under pressure from Romero. Worked hard in the press too.
CM: Abdulelah Al Malki – 7
Dilligent and tracked the Argentinian attackers very well.
CM: Mohammed Kanno – 8
Worked incredibly hard to deny Argentina time and space in midfield, playing his part in a memorable win.
LM: Salem Al-Dawsari – 8
His side’s talisman, and scored a memorable goal to hand his side a 2-1
CAM: Salman Al Faraj – 6
Didn’t really do anything wrong but the Saudi skipper was forced off in first-half stoppage time with injury, curtailing his tournament.
ST: Feras Al Brikan – 6
Played his part well and led the Saudi Arabia press to good effect. Never really got a chance to find the back of the net.
Substitutes
Nawaf Al Abid – 7
Played his part in a very solid Saudi Arabia mid-block in the second half before being taken off for a defender in the dying moments.
Sultan Al Ghannam – 6
Added extra legs as his side looked to hold on.
Haitham Asiri – 6
Came on and did his job to perfection.
Abdulelah Al Amri – 7
The defender came on to help ensure the result, and added to the defensive efforts of his side.
Mohamed AlBurayk- N/A
Came on in the final of eight added minutes.
Key Stats:
34 – Argentina are the first team in World Cup history to have four players aged 34+ in their starting XI (Lionel Messi, Nicolás Otamendi, Ángel Di María and Papu Gómez). Experience. https://t.co/kiUeXPxmG8
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 22, 2022
5 – @Argentina face an Asian opponent for the 5th time at @FIFAWorldCup (winning the previous four). This is their third debut in the tournament against side from this continent after 1986 🇰🇷 and 1998 🇯🇵. Memories.#ARG #FIFAWorldCup #Argentina pic.twitter.com/ZBhuMu1Ne1
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) November 22, 2022
🇦🇷 Messi becomes the first player to score in four different World Cup tournaments for Argentina 👏#UCL pic.twitter.com/eCvCt5WpRs
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) November 22, 2022
Leandro Paredes’ first half by numbers vs. Saudi Arabia:
94% pass accuracy
55 touches (most)
49 passes (most)
3 duels won
2 x possession won
2 tackles made
2 interceptions
1 chance createdKeeping things ticking. 🕰#FIFAWorldCup
— Squawka (@Squawka) November 22, 2022
4 – Lionel Messi is the fifth player to score at four different World Cup tournaments (2006, 2014, 2018, 2022) after Pelé, Uwe Seeler, Miroslav Klose and Cristiano Ronaldo. Legend. pic.twitter.com/EwEe0VOGEZ
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 22, 2022
Expert analysis:
Congratulations to Saudi Arabia. What a performance! 🇸🇦
The goalkeeper Al-Owais will forever be a legend.
Im still in shock. What a game. The unpredictability of football remains the reason I love the game so much.
— Mina Rzouki (@Minarzouki) November 22, 2022
Hindsight obviously, but the high-line and the aggression in that Saudi performance – making Argentina uncomfortable and not just sitting off, packing the defence and hoping for the best – looks like an amazing coaching decision.
— Seb Stafford-Bloor (@SebSB) November 22, 2022
Really though I’ve seen nothing in this game to suggest Argentina are not a good team.
— Grace Robertson 🏳️⚧️ (@GraceOnFootball) November 22, 2022
The semi-automated offside (which may be on TV at home, I don’t know) is showing that a fraction of Lautaro’s upper arm was offside. Hmmmm.
— Rory Smith (@RorySmith) November 22, 2022
📸 – The official offside image released by VAR. pic.twitter.com/ukRMC9nMYe
— 𝐀𝐅𝐂 𝐀𝐉𝐀𝐗 💎 (@TheEuropeanLad) November 22, 2022
Early, very early, but Argentina look massively more physical and dynamic than they did in Russia. They looked old and slow in that tournament. It is Saudi Arabia but this team looks far sharper already.
— tariq panja (@tariqpanja) November 22, 2022
Why are you playing a high line vs Argentina?
Why, would you do that?— Carl Anka (@Ankaman616) November 22, 2022
I spend an inordinate amount of time watching and thinking about football. I work in football. I still have no fucking idea what offside is anymore, and VAR doesn’t help.
— Raj Bains (@BainsXIII) November 22, 2022
Some atmosphere. With tens of thousands of fans from both countries, this has felt like the first proper football occasion of the tournament.
— Miguel Delaney (@MiguelDelaney) November 22, 2022
Fan reaction:
Consolation for Messi, a great day for his second job as Saudi tourism ambassador
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) November 22, 2022
SAUDI ARABIA CAME TO CRASH THE PARTY 🤯 pic.twitter.com/XaeuzDjT5s
— B/R Football (@brfootball) November 22, 2022
Cristian Romero is one of the most overrated players in the world IMO
— Aaron Catterson-Reid (@ReidTheGame) November 22, 2022
Are we all in agreement that the new offside technology is really good?
— James. (@afcjxmes) November 22, 2022
Messi – sorry – Argentina 1 Saudi Arabia 0. Penalty. I’m liking the zero tolerance on shirt pulling and holding in the box here, to go with the extreme added time for time wasting. Game has been too lax on it all for too long.
— Darren Lewis (@MirrorDarren) November 22, 2022
A Lionel Messi goal at 10.10am? This is the first game of 2022 where it feels like there’s an actual World Cup happening.
— Ronan Murphy (@swearimnotpaul) November 22, 2022
ONE OF THE BIGGEST SHOCKS IN WORLD CUP HISTORY
Argentina’s 36 match unbeaten run is over at the hands of Saudi Arabia! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/rbqQtbenUo
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) November 22, 2022
