World football witnessed the first major shock of the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2022 as Saudi Arabia pinned Argentina to register a 2-1 victory at the Lusail Iconic Stadium on Tuesday.
The jubilant Argentine fans, who were buzzing after Lionel Messi calmly slotted penalty in the bottom-left corner in the ninth-minute mark, were left stunned with Saudi Arabia registering a historic result courtesy of two scintillating finishes by Saleh Al-Shehri and Salem Al-Dawsari.
Though Argentina would be frustrated with two goals being disallowed by offside, credit to Al-Shehri for keeping his calm and squeezing a low shot in the 48th minute before Al-Dawsari curled a fantastic effort from the edge of the area in the 53rd minute.
As Argentine fans walked out of the stadium disappointed and saddened by the fact that Messi’s last World Cup started on a sour note, the La Albiceleste captain urged the fans to calm down and believe in the group.
“I ask the fans to trust us…this group wil not let them down,” responded Messi to Argentine media after the 2-1 defeat to Saudi Arabia.
After Argentina suffered the shock defeat to a side ranked 48 places lower in the world rankings, and second-lowest ranked in the ongoing showpiece tournament, many fans on social media platform Twitter labelled Saudi Arabia’s win as the ‘biggest upset in FIFA World Cup history’.
After today’s shock win for Saudi Arabia against Argentina, Gracenote, a Nielsen company, released a short list of the most unlikely World Cup football match victories in the history of the most popular global sporting competition. Gracenote analysis uses the company’s proprietary football ranking system to identify the most shocking upsets over the course of the World Cup’s storied 92 years. Prior to World Cup 2022, the most surprising World Cup win ever according to Gracenote was USA’s victory over England in 1950 with a 9.5% chance of victory for the US team but Saudi Arabia’s chance of victory today was estimated at 8.7% so takes over at number one.
Such was the magnitude of the win against Argentina that Saudi Arabia’s King Salman announced public holiday for employees in public and private sector along with students in all phases of education.
While social media was flooded with memes and reactions from former footballers, Saudi Arabia fans celebrating outside the stadium and Argentina fans expressing their disappointment went viral.
RevSportz takes a look at some of the reactions from Argentina vs Saudi Arabia match in FIFA World Cup 2022:
Disappointed #Argentina fans!! Still in shock!! @iabhijitdesh reporting from the ground.@BoriaMajumdar @sharmisthagoop2 @CricSubhayan #Messi #ArgentinaVsSaudiArabia #QatarWorldCup2022 #Qatar2022 #FIFAWorldCup2022 #FIFAWorldCup #ARG #KSA pic.twitter.com/cY7c8CJ5LA
— RevSportz (@RevSportz) November 22, 2022
Saudi Arabia fans overjoyed with their historic win vs Argentina!! Absolute scenes in Qatar!! Perhaps one of the biggest upsets we’ll see this #Qatar2022 @iabhijitdesh @BoriaMajumdar #Argentina #Messi #ARGSAU #ARG #KSA #QatarWorldCup2022 #FIFAWorldCup2022 #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/i1FIkUU5jE
— RevSportz (@RevSportz) November 22, 2022
Disappointed #Argentina fans!! Still in shock!! @iabhijitdesh reporting from the ground.@BoriaMajumdar @sharmisthagoop2 @CricSubhayan #Messi #ArgentinaVsSaudiArabia #QatarWorldCup2022 #Qatar2022 #FIFAWorldCup2022 #FIFAWorldCup #ARG #KSA pic.twitter.com/cY7c8CJ5LA
— RevSportz (@RevSportz) November 22, 2022
One picture, two different emotions #FIFAWorldCup #Argentina vs#SaudiArabia pic.twitter.com/1CA312IC1i
— It’s Jayyy (@_itsjayyyyyyy) November 22, 2022
Reflecting on the Argentina game, we all get angry or sad, now is the time to stand by and support them. No reason they can’t get 6 points. Argentina have lost an opening World Cup game before and made the final. This team is capable of the imppssible. Vamos Argentina. pic.twitter.com/vy2aAeuiuA
— Roy Nemer (@RoyNemer) November 22, 2022
This Saudi Arabia fan got so excited over the win against Argentina that he threw his door 😂😂pic.twitter.com/p1yKqBNGbt
— LADbible (@ladbible) November 22, 2022