In the first of the upsets in this World Cup & arguably one of the biggest ever, Saudi Arabia inflicted a stunning defeat to title contender Argentina on Day 3 of the tournament.
In the first game from Group C, title favourites Argentina nosed ahead in the 10th minute, as Parades was fouled by Bulayahi inside the box, resulting in a penalty via VAR check (looked doubtful though). Messi stepped up as expected & dinked the keeper Owais to dive the wrong way before rolling the ball into the bottom left corner 1-0. With this goal, Messi became the first Argentinian to score at four separate editions of the World Cup. The game opened up & the Arabians were buoyed by the local support & matched the Latin Americans in tackles & going forward. The game was of course marred by a number of tactical fouls, upsetting the momentum & the ref had to give 5 added minutes. However, the score stuck to 1-0, as the players headed into the lemon break. Messi & Lautaro Martinez, both found the net again, but both attempts were ruled out for offsides.
In a blockbuster start to the 2nd half, Saudi Arabia equalised in style as Saleh Shehri tore through the Argentinian defense, & slotted past the lunging keeper with a brilliant left footer. Buoyed with the effort, the Arabians went hunting hard & within minutes, Salem Dawsari blasted a right footer into the far corner of the net stunning the audience all over to go up 2-1. Rapturous Celebrations included a double somersault by the scorer - must be the biggest telling moment in his footballing career. Argentina pushed hard & were mostly playing in the Saudi Arabian half, but stoic defense & dogged resilience by the Arabians kept the ball away. Argentina made three quick changes to add more bite to their forward line & the young Alvarez almost scored, but his effort was saved off the goal line. The defeat brought memories of their loss to Cameroon way back in 1990, when they went on to reach the finals under Maradona & then lose to eventual champions, Germany. Who knows what's in store !!
The Referee Slavko Vincic, in a blatant effort to help Argentina, gave yellow cards at abandon to the Arabians(six in all), but looked away from fouls by the opponents - even when a player was leaving the field, or the Arabian Goalkeeper complained about getting pushed, (& time wastage is a common habit by the winning team - you can tell them, caution them, but yellow cards flashed at every instance was really poor). Games have to be evaluated fairly, especially by officials & credit to be given where it is due - there should be penalties for such poor judgements !!
8 minutes of added time did not yield anything & Argentina tasted their first defeat after 36 games, since March 2019, when they lost to Brazil in Copa America.
I felt, that the Argentinians, having scored a goal within 10 mins, & finding the net twice more, though disallowed for offside, felt this to be a walk in the park & took things easy. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia upped their intensity & got rich dividends with two fabulous goals within 5 minutes to come from behind & then held on to the slender margin with their lives. Complacency & later the frustration of letting go of the fluent movements are things Argentina would rue in their post match analysis. Now, with games coming up against Mexico & Poland - both potential banana slips, we could be witnessing a major debacle coming up, unless the men in blue & white stipes gather their composure. Hopefully Messi along with his team, will conjure something out of the hat, to stay afloat.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment
I would appreciate all feedback on this post from you.