‘This result gives us an advantage’: Green Falcons keep hopes alive in tough group

MIAMI: For 80 minutes, with a storm brewing high above the Miami Stadium, it looked like lightning might strike twice.

Saudi Arabia, in the opening match of a World Cup and against blue-and-white-shirted South Americans once again, appeared destined to cause another shock, four years after their last.

At World Cup 2022 in Qatar, Saudi winger Salem Al-Dawsari wrote global headlines when his rocket proved the difference, delivering his Green Falcons a 2-1 win over Argentina to become the first — and, it would prove, only — team to defeat the eventual champions.

Images of jubilant Saudi supporters went viral as, having made the short trip across Qatar’s southern border in their masses, they repeatedly asked anybody who would listen: “Where is Messi? Where is Messi?”

This time, against Uruguay and far from the familiarity of the Arabian Gulf, they instead found themselves playing just 17 km from Lionel Messi’s luxury apartment on Sunny Isles Beach.

More than 70 percent of the little magician’s adopted new home city identifies as Hispanic or Latino, so it was no surprise the vast majority of the 62,764 fans crammed into the home of the Miami Dolphins were dressed in the sky-blue of La Celeste.

Aside from a noisy pocket of green flags and scarves, even most of the other green shirts dotted at random around the stands were, on closer inspection, discovered to be that of Mexico or Bolivia rather than the Kingdom.

The Saudi fans who had travelled — many from Riyadh and Jeddah, but others from Texas, New York, and Toronto — spoke with confidence pre-match. They promised that their country would emulate what they achieved the last time this tournament took place on North American soil, which is progress from their group.

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