Why did Argentina lose to Saudi Arabia at the World Cup in Qatar?

How fast the water flows in the river of football time. In the opening match of the 2018 World Cup, the Russian team defeated Saudi Arabia with a score of 5:0. Four years have passed. Our team is not at the World Cup in Qatar, and the Saudi team became the author of the first and loudest sensation of this tournament. In their first match, the wards of the French specialist Herve Renard beat one of the main favorites of the tournament – the Argentines. And they didn’t just beat, but outplayed Messi himself with his comrades in all respects. We haven’t seen such tragic fights, so expected and so unpredictable, for a long time.

Even a couple of minutes before the start of this already legendary match, all the world’s media spoke only about numerous scandals that threatened to completely bury the most unfortunate World Cup in history. The press officer of the German Football Association accused FIFA of blackmail due to threats of harsh sanctions against any player or national team who dared to enter the field with One Love armbands. The British media even began calling the Emir of Qatar and his government the “regime” for persecuting homosexuals and killing migrant workers. The king of Spain is forbidden by his own parliamentarians to go to the match of his national team, which will be held on November 23. Fans complain about various inconveniences and troubles, and some journalists and TV presenters who work at the matches defiantly wear “rainbow” symbols, which are prohibited by the emirate’s authorities. It seems that a little more, and this championship will finally turn into a continuous endless political demonstration. Behind which the most important thing – football – will not be seen.

But football is alive. And not just alive, but triumphant. First of all, thanks to such games as the duel between Argentina and Saudi Arabia.

For star Lionel Messi, this championship could be the last. The Argentine is 35 years old. And in his long career, he has won everything that is possible. Messi even has an Olympic medal. There is not only the World Cup that separates the player from football immortality, like Maradona.

the day before

The day before the first match at the World Cup, the captain of the Argentine national team and its main star Messi told reporters that he was physically well prepared and that this championship was special for him, since the Argentines were one of the favorites.

“I feel very good. I do not have any problems. I’ve been preparing the same way I’ve been preparing my entire career, knowing that this is a special moment because this is probably my last World Cup, my last chance to make a big dream come true. Many, including those outside of Argentina, want us to become champions, and thanks in large part to me. I am grateful for the love I have received all over the world during my career. And here in Qatar, this is another example of this. I don’t know if we’ll do better than other world championships. But we finally won the America’s Cup after 18 years and it makes us work differently. Not worrying about the national team and its results, but having fun, ”said Messi.

Unlike his captain, Argentine head coach Scaloni was more cautious. “We are under no circumstances obliged to win the World Cup. It is a mistake to believe that we are obliged to do this. We will compete with other very good teams. We will love this World Cup. And we hope that both the Argentines and the rest of the fans will be happy to see a team that plays the kind of football that we like, ”he said the day before the match.

Joy and Tears of Messi

More than 80,000 people came to the stadium in Lusala to watch the duel between the great albiselesta and the Eagles of the Desert, which exceeds its official capacity. But this is not surprising. After all, Saudi Arabia at this tournament, given the place of its holding, has no less fans than the Argentines.

Among all the participating teams, only Ghana has a FIFA rating lower than that of the Saudi national team. And from the first minutes of the match, the Argentines got down to business.

In the ninth minute, the referee of the meeting, Slovenian Slavko Vincic, after a prompt from the VAR appointed a penalty against Saudi Arabia. Messi approached the “point” and confidently hit the gate.

There is a record!

After this goal, Messi has seven goals scored in 20 games at the World Cup. According to this indicator, he caught up with another star striker – the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo. In addition, by scoring in four different World Cups, Lionel broke the record of the Argentina national team, which was held by Diego Maradona and Gabriel Batistuta. Now it only remained to consolidate the result. Because almost no one doubted the victory of Albicelesta.

But then something strange began to happen.

After scoring a penalty in the course of the first half, the Argentines hit the opponents’ gates three more times. But all these goals were canceled by referee Vincic and VAR, as they were scored from an offside position. At the same time, one of the canceled goals is also on Messi’s account.

However, this did not bother the Argentines. Their game was arguing, and they left for a break smiling. In contrast to the head coach of the Saudis Herve Renard, who looked extremely concerned. Including the fact that the captain and the most experienced player of his team, Salman Al-Farij, has already left the field due to injury.

Catastrophe

How long is a break in a match? 15 minutes. It seems to be a little. But Renard managed to solve a tricky puzzle called “the Argentine national team.” The second half of this match will certainly go down in the history of world football.

While the Argentines were swinging, Renard’s eagles upped the pace, turned on the pressure and scored a goal already in the 48th minute. After an interception in the center of the field, Al Brikan gave a great pass to Al Shehri. He burst into the penalty area from the left and struck the bottom obliquely to the far post past Emiliano Martinez.

Argentines trembled, fussed. And five minutes later, the already great Messi in his penalty area did not have time to intercept the ball, which drove Al-Dawsari into the goal with an accurate blow.

And then came the turn of goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais, who was eventually recognized as the best player of the match. He dragged in general everything that flew into his gate.

The Argentina national team and its coach swam. Fans in green T-shirts began to chant: “Where are you, Messi?” and “We are the champions!”

And you just had to be patient. The Argentines attacked furiously, the Saudis grabbed six yellow cards, the referee again added almost 14 minutes. Al-Shahrani received a terrible facial injury after a collision with his goalkeeper. It seemed that this game would never end. Because Argentina couldn’t lose.

But the whistle of Vincic still put an end to this unthinkable felling. And now the Argentines must definitely defeat Mexico and Poland. Otherwise, Messi’s dream of a World Cup will remain a dream.