LUSAIL, Qatar(Reuters) - Saudi Arabia notched one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history on Tuesday with a 2-1 win over Lionel Messi’s Argentina thanks to a scintillating second half comeback.
On his fifth and final quest for the only major trophy to elude him, the 35-year-old Messi scored a 10th minute penalty in a dominant first half display where he and Lautaro Martinez also had three goals disallowed for offside.
But Saudi Arabia, the second-lowest ranked team in the tournament after Ghana, threw caution to the wind at the start of the second half, charging at Argentina’s defense in front of a frenzied 88,012 crowd.
First, Saleh Al-Shehri squeezed in a low shot in the 48th minute. Then, to the disbelief of even the Saudi fans, Salem Al-Dawsari curled in a scorching strike from the edge of the penalty area in the 53rd minute to leave Argentina and Messi looking utterly shell-shocked in the Group C opener.
Despite plenty of possession after that, Argentina could not penetrate the Green Falcons, who were competing in their sixth World Cup but had never previously won an opening game.
The entire game was played in an extraordinary atmosphere at the Lusail Stadium, with Argentina’s traditionally massive and raucous following matched by the thousands of Saudis who had come over the border to cheer on their team.
Both teams have Mexico and Poland to come, with Argentina needing an immediate reaction if Messi is to have a realistic chance of matching Diego Maradona’s immortality in his homeland by bringing home the World Cup.
The result revived old question marks over Argentina’s defence and broke their amazing 36-match undefeated run. That stopped them from matching the previous international record of 37 games unbeaten held by Italy.
Their feat against the twice World Cup-winners and current South American champions was all the more remarkable given the departure of their influential captain and midfielder Salman Al Faraj just after halftime, clutching a hamstring.
Midfielder Abdulelah Al-Malki said the Saudis were fired up like never before by their coach Herve Renard.
“Renard made us cry with the motivation before the match and stoked us up during halftime,” he said, affectionately calling the Frenchman “crazy”.