Football

World Cup 2022 … Day III: Argentina shocked by Saudi Arabia while France came from behind to win

by
Scott Balaam
23 November 2022

The first big shock of the World Cup saw Saudi Arabia come from behind to beat Lionel Messi’s Argentina 2-1 in the Lusail Stadium.

The South American side got off to an excellent start when Messi slotted him a 10th minute penalty.

They also had the ball in the back of the net three times but each time they were disallowed for offside – twice by the linesman and once by VAR.

Going into half-time only one team looked like winning but it did not take long to change!

The Saudi team came out fired up – and in a six crazy minutes early the game completely changed.

The underdogs equalised through Saleh Al-Shehri three minutes into the second-half before a wonderful solo effort from Salem Al-Dawsari five minutes later left the Saudi Arabia fans going wild while silencing the travelling Argentina fans.

After the historic win Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has even announced a public holiday on Wednesday (today).

The French cruised to victory

France had an early scare when Craig Goodwin put the Australians 1-0 up but the French came back in style to win 4-1 thanks to goals from Adrien Rabiot, a Olivier Giroud double and finally Kylian Mbappe.

Giroud scored twice to equal Thierry Henry’s record as France’s top scorer but he did it in 115 games compared to the Arsenal legend who did it in 123 appearances.

Goal drought …

The remaining games in Group C where Mexico took on Poland and Denmark played Tunisia both ended in 0-0 draws.

Unfortunately for Poland, Robert Lewandowski’s 58th minute penalty was saved by Guillermo Ochoa – meaning that the Polish still have not beaten the Mexicans since 1978!

In the other game both teams had a goal disallowed for offside while Andreas Cornelius nearly won it for the Danes but hit the post from a yard.

It was good to see Christian Eriken return to play in a major tournament after his health problems in Euro 2020.

A special mention goes to Tunisia’s Aissa Laidouni who had an excellent game and looked a real talent – he currently plays for Ferencvaros and is someone to watch!