The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has just done the impossible in the football world! They have just beaten the world cup favorites Argentina 2-1 to shock the entire world and end the 36 match unbeaten streak Argentina was on!
Top Notch Defending and Goal Keeping from KSA
The team of Saudi Arabia came prepared for Argentina and Lionel Messi as their defensive highline was one of the highlights of the game, leaving Argentina with such small margins to make things work, which they were not able to, at all!
The first half was a total shock as everyone was expecting Argentina to roll over Saudi Arabia, and they did get a good start as Lionel Messi converted a penalty to give the South American team the lead in the first half, but the KSA team did not lose their composure, the high line in defense worked a treat as Argentina had 3 goals disallowed and they also were caught offside 6 times in the first 35 minutes alone!
But it was the second half that changed things dramatically, Saudi Arabia scored 2 goals in matter of minutes in quick succession to give their team the lead over the world cup favourites in Argentina, and their defense and their amazing goalkeeper did the rest!
The Arabian Goal Keeper Mohammed Alowais was an amazing piece in the KSA puzzle that kept the fight going until the very end, pulling off 5 major saves, two of them on the goal line which everyone thought would go in, but no Argentine attacker was able to break through the defense despite the game being played for 113 minutes, earning Mohammed Alowais a well deserved man of the match award!
Saudi Prince declares a public holiday to celebrate the win!
The crown prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud has officially declared a public holiday for the entire country to celebrate their team doing the impossible and getting their first ever world cup win, a holiday much deserved for the fighting spirit of this team!
Denmark, Tunisia, Poland and Mexico all played out a draw.
In other two matches of the night, Denmark went against Tunisia while Poland was playing against Mexico, while both of those matches ended in a draw, the fans were treated to some good football and even penalty saves that kept both the teams at bay.
Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski faced some criticism as not only did he failed to make any impact against Mexico, but he also had his crucial penalty saved which denied his team the victory against Mexico.
The Guillermo Ochoa memes are true!!
All the memes about Mexico’s goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa turning into prime Casillas every world cup might actually be true! The keeper was an late addition to the squad, but started the game and not only made some unbelievable saves, but also denied Lewandowski his penalty as he has risen up from his 4 year cry to sleep to become the prime mix of Buffon, Casillas and Yashin again!
World Champions off to a flying start!
The last match of the night saw France take on Australia where the defending champions, who are without their main attackers and midfielders because of injuries, made easy work of their opposition beating them 4-1.
Oliver Giroud made the best of the situation in Karim Benzema and Nkuku’s absence to be the star of the match as he scored 2 goals for France making him their oldest ever goal scorer in their history.
Adrien Rabiot opened the scoring for France while their star man Mbappe also bagged a goal for the defending champions, who came back from being 1-0 after Craig Woodwin scored for Australia in the 9th minute.
Standings in Group C & D
The amazing performance from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia earned them top spot in group C, leaving Argentina at the bottom, while Poland and Mexico occupy the 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
While France take the top spot and Australia the bottom, the goalless draw put Tunisia and Denmark on the 2nd and 3rd spot with 0 goal difference!