Qatar 2022: Saudi Arabia stun Messi, Argentina

It was not meant to be like this. Lionel Messi was meant to take centre stage, to prove to the world that he was ready to finally add a World Cup winner’s medal to the vast collection of silverware he has at his home in Paris.

But instead, this day belonged to Salem Al Dawsari and Saleh Al Shehri, the scorers of the two fine goals that ended Lionel Scaloni’s 36-match unbeaten run as Argentina head coach.

The day also belonged to Hervé Renard, the wily Frenchman who orchestrated Argentina’s most humiliating World Cup moment from the touchline. Renard ordered his team to press, have faith in a high-line defence, and most importantly — to attack.

The temptation must have been there to sit back with the sole aim of trying to prevent Argentina racking up a cricket score, but instead his team played on the front foot and for that he deserves a huge amount of credit.

Messi scored a controversial penalty, but his team had three goals disallowed after falling into the offside trap that was so cleverly laid by Renard.

What now for Argentina, Scaloni and Messi?

They must go away, lick their wounds and somehow move on from the memory of being booed off after losing to Saudi Arabia, who sit 48 places below them in the Fifa rankings.

Poland and Mexico, their next two opponents, will be no pushovers either. They will certainly take confidence from the fact that Saudi Arabia managed to repel Argentina so easily.

Argentina wasted the first of many chances in the second minute and Messi was the man at fault. Ángel Di María nudged the ball inside to Lautaro Martínez who tapped the ball into the path of Messi. Argentina’s No 10 could not have wished for a better tee-up, but his left-footed shot was surprisingly weak and easily dealt with by Mohamed Al-Owais in the Saudi goal.

Eight minutes later, Al-Owais was picking the ball out of his net after the harshest of penalties. While waiting for a corner, Leandro Paredes hit the deck after Saud Abdulhamid put his left arm across the midfielder. Play continued but when Rodrigo De Paul’s shot flew out of play, referee Slavko Vincic headed straight to the touchline to look at the video screen after being told to do so by the VAR.

Vincic pointed to the spot, and Messi stepped up. He delayed his run slightly, waiting for Alowais to dive. The Saudi keeper took the bait, diving to his right and Messi rolled the ball into the other corner.

There was the odd dash of brilliance from Messi, but the Saudis started pushing back. Emiliano Martínez, the Argentina goalkeeper, dived to his left to thwart Abdulhamid.

Saudi Arabia played a risky game by defending high up the pitch, but the tactic worked. Within the space of 12 minutes, Argentina had three goals disallowed. Messi was the first to put the ball into the net after he ran onto Alejandro Gómez’s through-ball, but he was marginally offside.

When De Paul slid Martínez in, he too hit the back of the net with a lovely chip, but VAR ruled that he should have started his run a second earlier. Martínez ran through again and rounded the Saudi goalkeeper just after the half hour mark. This time the provider was Messi, but the outcome was the same. Martínez was marginally offside.

If Argentina thought the second half would be a procession, they were mistaken. Saudi Arabia harried the men in blue and white and in the 51st minute they got their reward. Al Shehri, the Al Hilal forward, stationed on the left hand side of the area, gained a yard on Cristian Romero before deftly sweeping the ball through the defender’s legs into the far corner of Martínez’s goal.

He slid on his knees towards the ferocious roar of the men in green behind the goal. They started hoping, wishing, dreaming for another, and their team did not let them down. There will not be many better finishes at this World Cup than the one provided by Al Dawsari. Initially Al Dawsari miscontrolled a looping ball into the box, but he regained control, turned Di María and Nahuel Molina.

Al Dawsari then drifted past Di María before curling the ball into the top corner with a shot that was too powerful for Martínez to palm away. Argentina hit back on the counter. It seemed inevitable that Messi would equalise when he found space on the edge of the box, but Hassan Al Tambakt put in a crunching tackle that was greeted with roars of approval from the crowd.

Argentina threw everything at the Saudis in the remainder of the match, but some lionhearted defending, particularly from Abdulelah Alamri, who cleared off the line at the death, saw them over the line.