Messi Who? Plucky Saudi Arabia stun ‘favourites,’ Argentina

Argentina Captain, Lionel Messi, rues his team’s loss to Saudi Arabia at the ongoing Qatar 2022 World cup… yesterday.

• Tunisia raises Africa’s hope

‘Don’t cry for me Argentina,’ goes Eva Peron’s (also known as Evita) famous words, which were sung by Madonna. But yesterday at the Lusail Stadium, Qatar, Lionel Messi and his troop were left to rue missed first-half chances and their strikers ill-timing that cost them three goals, as plucky Saudi Arabia recorded the first big upset of the ongoing 2022 World Cup.

It was totally a victory that came out of the blues, but followers of Saudi coach, Herve Renard, predicted that the Frenchman, who took Morocco to a mazy run at the World Cup in Russia four years ago, could ruffle some shoulders here in Qatar. And that his boys did by inflicting a on one of the favourites an unexpected defeat.

Really, the stars appeared to be aligning for Messi as he arrived at the Qatar World Cup being the talisman for an Argentina squad that has been simply unbeatable since 2019.

And when the 35-year-old scored a penalty 10 minutes into the opening Group C clash, it seemed that the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner was on his way to leading his country to glory.

And then signs that Messi’s fifth and final World Cup might end up in familiar crushing disappointment showed early in the second half when Saleh Al-Shehri got away from Cristian Romero all too easy to draw Saudi Arabia level. Rather than defend to keep the game safe at 1-1, Saudi Arabia roared forward five minutes later with Al-Dawsari shrugging off some flimsy challenges to curl a winner that Messi himself would have been proud to have in his glittering collection.

Saudi Arabia ranked 51st by FIFA, looked more like the better-rated team than