Argentina suffers humiliating defeat at the hands of Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia pulls off a miracle 2-1 upset over Argentina, an absolutely stunning result that immediately becomes the biggest win in Saudi Arabia’s history.
It’s also an unmitigated embarrassment for Argentina, one of the tournament’s favourites who have to go through Mexico and Poland in their suddenly diminished hopes of advancing.
Argentina has plenty it can look back on in regret, including the three offside goals that were disallowed, but Saudi Arabia grabbed control with a furious rally at the beginning of the second half.
This is not how it was supposed to be, but this is how it always seems to end. That slump of the shoulders, that distant stare, that mournful grimace.
Argentina went to this World Cup to enshrine Lionel Messi’s legacy in gold. It will remember it, for some time, for one of the greatest humiliations in its history.
A team that had travelled to Qatar on the back of 35 games without defeat, the glow of its first international honour in a generation fresh in the memory, with arguably the greatest player of all time in top form and surrounded by teammates of the highest caliber, opened its tournament with a 2-1 defeat to an opponent, Saudi Arabia, that was supposed to be little more than a sacrificial lamb.
