Messi, who? World Cup favorites Argentina suffers shocking upset to Saudi Arabia

Messi, who? World Cup favorites Argentina suffers shocking upset to Saudi Arabia


Jumping for joy

Jumping for joy
Image: Getty Images

Most American soccer fans went to bed Monday night ready to skip Tuesday’s opening game. Better to get some sleep than watch a blowout when Argentina is going to be in the tournament for a while right? Saudi Arabia entered Group C’s opening match as a +1800 underdog (per BetMGM odds) to win and gave up a goal to Lionel Messi in the 10th minute. Right where the Saudis want to be.

In one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history, Saudi Arabia scored two early second-half goals to take down Argentina and put a huge dent into the South American giant’s chances of advancing to the knockout stage, much less winning the whole damn tournament.

In a group completed by Mexico and Poland, Argentina’s route just got a lot harder to win Messi his first World Cup in what’s likely his final opportunity. Saudi Arabia was written off as Group C’s punching bag, with Argentina easily advancing alongside someone else. That script is over. It’ll be a massive push for Messi and friends to make the final 16 now.

Multiple Argentina goals were taken off the board by VAR, with each of those callbacks being inches from standing. That’s why the biggest tournament in the world has help from video officials, to get the calls right. And with those correct decisions, Argentina is on the wrong side of one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history.



Original source here

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About the Author

Anthony Barnett
Anthony is the author of the Science & Technology section of ANH.