Lionel Messi Opens The Scoring in Argentina's Shock Defeat To Saudi Arabia

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In the biggest upset in World Cup Group C history, Argentina, ranked third in the world and favored to win the World Cup, scored first in the first 10 minutes thanks to a 12-yard ball from Lionel Messi. Saudi Arabia scored twice in just five minutes in the second half to end the game by 1: The team suffered its first defeat against an Asian team in the World Cup.

Messi, who took part in the World Cup for the fifth time, revealed in an interview before the game that this might be his last tournament and the last chance to achieve his great dream of winning the championship. However, Argentina suffered a failure against Saudi Arabia, which ranked the second from the bottom in the world. The lowest ranked country in the world is Ghana at 61, followed by Saudi Arabia at 51.

Argentina opened the game with a 12-yard strike from Messi in the 10th minute, but the next two goals were ruled offside; As for Saudi Arabia, which did not have a shot in the first half, it turned the game around with back-to-back goals from Saleh Al Shehri and Salem Al Dawsari in the 48th and 53rd minutes. With goalkeeper Muhammad Al Owais making four saves and Abdulelah Al-Amri hamming away in stoppage time, Argentina came away with their first defeat in the Group stage by a goal.

The win not only ended Argentina's 36-match unbeaten streak in international matches, the second longest in history, but also became the first Asian team to beat Argentina in world football. After the game, Saudi fans on the sidelines chanted "Where is Messi? We beat him", celebrating the historic victory of the team.

Argentina's defeat also turned Messi, the team's only scorer, into a tragic hero, becoming only the fifth player in history and the first for Argentina to score in four World Cup tournaments when he scored a 12-yard penalty in the match, as teammate Emiliano Martinez put it: "It hurts, the whole team dreams of starting the World Cup with a victory, and since it happened, we have to move on; because we lost the game by mistakes, especially in the second half, some details affected the game and must be fixed as soon as possible."