2022 FIFA World Cup
2022 World Cup: Miracle In The Gulf As Saudi Arabia Embarrass Messi’s Argentina

It’s day three of the 2022 FIFA World Cup as Saudi Arabia got the most remarkable result in their football history and one which is sending shockwaves through the World Cup.
Argentina suffered a shocking loss to Saudi Arabia in their first World Cup game in Qatar, losing 2-1 at the Lusail Stadium.
A first-half penalty from Messi was cancelled out by Saleh Alsheri and Salem Aldwalsari in the 48th and 53rd minute.
Although goals from Messi and two Lautaro Martinez were ruled out by VAR in the first half, Saudi Arabia held on resiliently as they scored two quick goals within five minutes to take the lead against the Argentines.
Alsheri in the 48th minute beat Emiliano Martinez to draw level and bring the crowd at the stadium to life.
Five minutes later, Aldwalsari found the corner of the net with a deft curler that beat Martinez to send shivers down the spine of the Argentina team.
Messi and his teammates pushed forward to get an equalizer in the remaining minutes of the game, but Mohammed Alowais was solid in between the sticks for Saudi Arabia as they held on to their slim lead to pull off the first shocker in the tournament.
The loss means that Argentina must now win their remaining two games against Mexico and Poland to advance to the next round of the competition.
Below are Live text from Argentina vs Saudi Arabia
FULL-TIME ARGENTINA 1-2 SAUDI ARABIA!
The whistle goes and it’s pandemonium for the Saudi Arabia supporters!
Is this one of the greatest shocks in World Cup history? It’s certainly up there – Argentina are one of the tournament favourites, and led 1-0 at half-time after a dominant performance and Lionel Messi penalty. But an outstanding second-half showing from the Saudis turned the game on its head, with Al-Shehri and Al-Dawsari scoring in the space of four minutes soon after the break.
Superb defending saw out one of the greatest results in Saudi Arabian football history!
99′ SAUDI ARABIA
AL BURAYK ON
The camera pans round some nervous-looking Saudi Arabia fans and glum Argentina supporters as treatment continue on the pitch.
He’s carried off the pitch and Al Burayk comes on in his place for the final few minutes. Thumbs up from Al Shahrani is a good sign to see.
We’ve played the eight additional minutes, but there will be a few more after this.
96 MAN DOWN
There’s a Saudi Arabia player down in the box after Al Owais collided with him while punching a cross away.
It’s Al Shahrani, who took a nasty knee in the head there. Initially play had continued, but now we’ve stopped and there’a stretcher on the pitch.
94′ CORNER FOR SAUDIS
Saudi Arabia win a corner! That’s the area of the pitch they want to be playing in. They work it short, but accidentally stray offside and Argentina have the ball again.
92′ ANOTHER CHANCE
The keeper comes to take a cross and drops it, and Alvarez’s follow-up is headed off the line!
But there was a flag up in any case..
91′ ARGENTINA INCREASE THE PRESSURE
Argentina get another chance to threaten from a free-kick, but it’s dealt with. A ball is fired back in towards Alvarez, but Saudis again clear their lines! Now an Acuna cross comes in…headed away. There’s no way through!
The board comes up – eight minutes of added time!
90TH MINUTE APPROACHING
Now the question is…how many added minutes will Argentina get to turn this around?
We’re betting on quite a few…
Argentina work the ball into the box but it’s batted away again.
A couple of late Saudi Arabia changes now – Al-Buraikan and Al-Abid off, Al Amri and Asiri on.
Can they hold out?
68′ SAUDI ARABIA
AL MALKI BOOKED
That’s the first yellow card of the game. Al Malki goes in the book for a reckless challenge.
66’NO WAY THROUGH
Saudi Arabia are defending brilliantly. Messi gets into the box and looks for a team-mate, but his pass towards Lautaro is cut out.
Argentina are going to have to work harder to break down this backline, which looks far less shaky than it did in the first half.
64′ ARGENTINA
BIG CHANCE!
Argentina spread the ball wide and it’s worked back into the box, but Al Owais gets down well to block Tagliafico’s shot from point-blank range.
Argentina are appealing for a penalty, but Messi goes ahead and takes the resulting corner, which comes to nothing.
59′ Live comment icon
ARGENTINA
THREE ARGENTINA CHANGES
Scaloni makes a triple change to try and wrestle back momentum.
Alvarez, Lisandro Martinez (our third Martinez on the pitch now) and Fernandez are on, with Romero, Gomez and Paredes heading off.
57′ GREAT DEFENDING
Fantastic tackle! Argentina threaten as Messi bursts into the box, but just as he’s about to pull the trigger, Altambakti makes a superbly-timed slide challenge to pinch the ball off his toes.
55′ Live comment icon
SAUDI ARABIA
2-1 SAUDI ARABIA, UNBELIEVABLE!
What. A. Goal! Astonishing scenes at the Lusail Stadium as Al-Dawsari scores a STUNNING strike to put Saudi Arabia ahead!
He cuts inside and whips a shot into the far top corner, after taking the ball out of the sky with a superb first touch.
It’s a fantastic individual goal, Martinez got fingertips to it but couldn’t keep it out. Wow!
51′ FIRST SHOT FOR SAUDIS!
One shot, one goal. You can’t say Saudi Arabia aren’t clinical!
49′ Live comment icon
SAUDI ARABIA
SAUDI ARABIA EQUALISE! 1-1!
Extraordinary! Saudi Arabia have levelled out of nowhere!
Al-Shehri is the hero, holding off a defender and guiding a shot into the bottom far corner past Martinez. Game on!
47′ DI MARIA DOWN
Di Maria is down on the ground clutching his leg with a grimace, but he gets back to his feet and seems to be OK to continue.
In fact he definitely is, because he’s soon racing after a long ball out of defence. But guess what? He’s offside.
BACK UNDERWAY
Argentina kick us off for the second half.
HALF TIME: ARGENTINA 1-0 SAUDI ARABIA
Lionel Messi’s penalty after 10 minutes gives Argentina a deserved lead at the break, which they will feel should be bigger.
Saudi Arabia’s high line has been a very risky tactic, with Argentina getting in behind it and scoring three times – once through Messi and twice through Lautaro – but all three goals were chalked off for offside.
The Saudis are yet to create a chance of note, and Scaloni will be happy with what he’s seen from his side.
49′ SAUDI ARABIA
AL-FARAJ INJURED
Saudi Arabia captain Al-Faraj has gone down with an injury and needs to be replaced, despite half time being so close. He’s able to walk off the pitch though, with Al-Abid coming on in his place. Poor Al-Faraj looks devastated.
48′ SAUDIS UNDER PRESSURE
De Paul gets to the byline and has time to get his head up and consider his options. He tries to cut it back to Messi just inside the area, but the ball is cut out. Then a nice ball to the back post finds Di Maria, but he can’t make a good contact. Saudi Arabia will be happy to get to the break 1-0 down, you feel.
45′ FIVE ADDED MINUTES
Half-time is approaching…but first we’ve got five minutes of stoppage time.
Lots of added time is already a real feature of this World Cup – five minutes is relatively small compared to what we saw yesterday.
43′ DE PAUL FIRES WELL OVER
Argentina play the corner short and end up winning a free-kick just outside the box on the left wing.
Messi swings it in and a header comes off a Saudi defender and drops to De Paul nicely at the edge of the box, but his shot is wild and flies over.
41′ ARGENTINA THREATEN
Di Maria picks out Romero – surprisingly up from the back – with a clever reverse pass in the box, but the Tottenham man can’t find a team-mate in the box.
Messi then makes a burst into the box, but Saudi Arabia defend well to concede a corner.
36′ THIRD GOAL DISALLOWED!
Would you believe it? It’s a THIRD offside goal for Argentina!
Messi slips in Lautaro, who finishes well, but the offside flag goes up again! Argentina’s timing has just been a fraction off so far.
That Saudi Arabia high line…
Argentina have been caught offside six times in this match already – that’s more than any team at the 2018 tournament in a match or in this tournament so far.#FIFAWorldCup
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) November 22, 2022
gghhjh
32′ ARGENTINA OFFSIDE AGAIN
It comes to nothing, as Al-Dawsari’s delivery flies straight into the arms of Martinez.
Argentina try to launch a quick counter and Di Maria is free in space behind the defence, but the flag is up again! It feels like sooner or later they will take advantage of this high line…
31′ SAUDI SET PIECES
The Saudis get a chance from a corner and work the ball into the box, but Argentina manage to get it clear.
However, Kanno wins another free-kick out wide after a De Paul foul.
30′ GOAL RULED OUT AGAIN! Slide-rule pass through to Martinez and he’s through on goal. The Inter striker shows great composure to dink it over Al-Owais and it’s 2-0 Argentina….or is it? It’s pulled back for another offside and Saudi Arabia survive!
28′ LAUTARO MAKES IT TWO!
What a beautiful goal this is! Gomez plays an inch-perfect ball through the Saudi defence and Lautaro races after it, before clipping a delightful finish over the keeper and into the bottom corner.
The VAR is looking at it though.
26′ DEFINITELY OFFSIDE
We’ve now seen the offside freeze-frame from the semi-automated offside technology.
It shows that Messi’s entire upper body was in an offside position, so it wasn’t quite as close as we thought. Good to see the technology working well!
23′ ARGENTINA
MESSI GOAL DISALLOWED!
A wry smile from Messi, who sticks the ball in the net calmly, but the flag was up for offside.
That high defensive line from the Saudis is a bit of a risk, but Argentina haven’t quite caught them out yet – Messi was inches offside there as he raced after a ball in behind.
21′ GOMEZ BLAZES OVER
Papu Gomez has a go from the edge of the area, but he fires a shot over the bar.
19′ FLAG GOES UP
Lautaro blasts a shot off target, but he was miles offside as he looked to pounce on a high Saudi Arabian defensive line.
17′ MARTINEZ FIELDS CROSS
A nice move here from the Saudis down the right, but Abdulhamid’s cross is deflected into the arms of Martinez.
It’s been a decent response from the Saudis though after that early goal.
16′ ARGENTINA DEAL WITH FREE-KICK
Saudi Arabia win a free-kick in a decent position, midway inside the Argentina half.
Skipper Al-Faraj clips it towards the back post, but Argentina manage to clear their lines.
13′ MESSI MAKES HISTORY
4 – Lionel #Messi is the first player to score in four different World Cups for Argentina (06, 14, 18, 22). Overtaken Gabriel Omar Batistuta (94, 98, 02) and Diego Maradona (82, 86, 94). Superstar.#ArgentinaArabiaSaudita
4 – Lionel #Messi is the first player to score in four different World Cups for Argentina (06, 14, 18, 22). Overtaken Gabriel Omar Batistuta (94, 98, 02) and Diego Maradona (82, 86, 94). Superstar.#ArgentinaArabiaSaudita
— OptaPaolo 🏆 (@OptaPaolo) November 22, 2022
10′ ARGENTINA
MESSI SCORES!
No mistake! Messi takes 10 minutes to open his World Cup account, rolling the spot kick calmly into the bottom corner as he saw the keeper going the other way.
Argentina take an early lead!
9′ ARGENTINA PENALTY
Given! Argentina have a penalty after the referee went to the monitor for a look and saw Paredes being wrestled to the ground in a busy box from the corner.
No prizes for guessing who will take it…
8′ VAR CHECK
VAR check! They’re looking for a possible penalty from a corner. Paredes is bundled to the ground…
5′ ARGENTINA IN POSSESSION
Argentina are looking comfortable knocking it about in their own half. The Saudis have barely touched the ball so far.
ARGENTINA IN POSSESSION
2′ – CHANCE! We’re underway and it’s immediately a chance for Argentina and Messi. Di Maria plays the ball in from the right flank, Martinez cushions it before running into traffic and the ball runs loose to Messi. He strokes it first time towards the corner but Mohammed Al-Owais gets down to make the save!
ARGENTINA
BIG CHANCE FOR MESSI
Di Maria skips in from the right wing and plays a pass into the box, which breaks into Messi’s path.
The No.10 tries to pass it into the bottom corner but the goalkeeper gets down to his right quickly to palm it away.
10:01
We’re off! Saudi Arabia kick us off at a packed Lusail Stadium.
0′ – Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria, and Lautaro Martinez spearhead Argentina’s attack, while there’s a start in defence for Tottenham’s Cristian Romero. Saudi Arabia’s chief threats are Saleh Al Shehri, who has 10 goals in 20 international appearances, and Salem Al-Dawsari.
0′ – LINEUPS CONFIRMED!
Preview
Argentina face Saudi Arabia on Tuesday morning in the first match for one of the World Cup’s favourites.
Lionel Scaloni’s side are unbeaten in competitive matches since losing to Brazil in the semi-final of the 2019 Copa America. Argentina were crowned champions of South America in 2021 and come into the competition without the familiar maelstrom of unease which has accompanied their recent World Cup appearances.
Saudi Arabia don’t boast quite the same lofty billing. The Green Falcons are the second-lowest-ranked nation at the World Cup (51st).