26 days to the World Cup: Saudi Arabia stuns eventual champion Argentina

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The road to Argentina’s World Cup victory in 2022 got off to a bumpy start. Their opening match against Saudi Arabia would put pressure on La Albiceleste to win their second group stage game against Mexico in order to have a chance to advance.

Saudi Arabia would stun Argentina 2-1, but not until after the eventual champions made life difficult over the first 45 minutes.

Lionel Messi scored a 10th-minute penalty and the match was going as many expected. Argentina could have had three more first-half goals, but all three were ruled out due to offside.

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Qatar’s Lusail Stadium, which Argentina became very familiar with during the tournament having hosted five of its matches, including the final, did not expect what transpired in the second half.

Saudi Arabia struck quickly with equalizing in the 48th minute. Five minutes later, the match changed for good with ’s brilliant individual effort to create space and curl a shot past goalkeeper .