FIFA World Cup: Saudi erupts in joy; Argentina plunges into grief

Shock and awe. It was a day of one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history.

Jubilation followed the final whistle. Disbelief quickly set in. Saudi Arabia, a team that had only ever won three World Cup matches in its history, just pulled off possibly the biggest upset in the tournament’s history.

They beat Argentina, 2-1.

“One for the books,” Saudi Arabia coach Hervé Renard said. “This is football. Sometimes things are completely crazy.”

Goalkeeper Mohammed Alowais, who made two key saves late in the game to preserve the win on Tuesday at Lusail Stadium north of Doha, was almost subdued at the end, perhaps not grasping the magnitude of the upset.

“I am very happy about this result that we have been able to obtain against this very storied team,” Alowais said solemnly. “We have prepared ourselves. We were 100% ready and hopefully we will have better results in the future. I felt we were especially good in the last minutes because we secured our three points.”

Not just in the last minutes. Despite trailing 1-0 at halftime after a 10th-minute goal from Lionel Messi, perhaps the greatest soccer player of all time, Saleh Alshehri and Salem Aldawsari managed to score a goal each early in the second half.

Then came more than 50 minutes, including added time at the end of the match at the referees discretion, of holding one of the tournament favorites at bay.

“All the stars aligned for us,” said Renard, who won the African Cup of Nations as coach of Zambia in 2012 and then again with Ivory Coast in 2015.

Renard has also coached Angola and Morocco, which he guided to the 2018 World Cup in Russia. He took over Saudi Arabia in 2019.

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“We made history for Saudi football,” Renard said. “It will stay forever. This is the most important. But we also need to think about looking forward because we still have two games that are very very difficult for us.”

Saudi Arabia will next face Poland on Saturday and then take on Mexico next Tuesday in Group C.

Argentina’s worst moment?

It was a match Argentines had no doubt would be victorious and joyful. Instead, shock and sadness engulfed the streets of the capital Tuesday morning as the long-awaited debut of the national team in the World Cup ended in a 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia.

“The truth is, this is a disappointment, a big disappointment,” said Alejandro Pintos, a 36-year-old locksmith who was opening his shop a bit later than usual because he first wanted to watch the game. “This was the match that we had no choice but to win.”

Pintos described the national team as being “very disorganized,” something he found particularly frustrating given its 36-match unbeaten streak leading up to the tournament.

Led by Lionel Messi, Argentina entered the tournament as one of the favourites, but instead suffered one of the biggest World Cup upsets after Saudi Arabia rallied with two second-half goals in Lusail Stadium.

“I’m really quite bitter,” Josefina Licera, a 27-year-old social worker, said as she waited for the bus to go to work. “I was really sure we were going to win and it was a big surprise.” Susana Leguizamón, 55, woke up half an hour before the match was set to start at 7 a.m. local time and put on her blue-and-white-striped Argentina jersey, ready to celebrate what she thought was going to be a fabulous debut for the national team in Qatar.

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“I was very, very, very surprised, Leguizamón said. The truth is, we underestimated our rival.” Argentines were counting on a World Cup win to bring a glimmer of hope to a country that has been economically stagnant for years, is suffering a nearly 100% inflation rate, and where close to 4 in 10 people are living in poverty.

Oscar López, 67, was visibly upset as he reflected on the team’s unexpected defeat while wiping down windows outside the building where he is the superintendent. “If they’re in the World Cup, no team is easy, López said, his eyes watering.

But Santiago Babarro, 40, said he was not all that shocked by the result.

“The same thing always happens to Argentina,” the retail worker said. “We say, This is an easy match, we can win it easily, and then, bam! They put us in our place. We always believe were more than what we are.”

(With AP inputs)