World Cup stunner: Saudi Arabia beats Messi's Argentina 2-1

Updated Nov. 22, 2022 7:08 a.m. ET
Associated Press

LUSAIL, Qatar (AP) — Saudi Arabia scored one of the biggest World Cup upsets ever by beating Lionel Messi’s Argentina 2-1 on Tuesday.

Messi’s quest to win the one major title to elude him got off to a shocking start and brought back memories of Cameroon’s 1-0 win over an Argentina team led by Diego Maradona in the opening game of the 1990 World Cup.

Goals by Saleh Alshehri and Salem Aldawsari in a five-minute span in the second half gave the Saudis their greatest win. Messi rolled in a penalty to give Argentina a 10th-minute lead.

This also rivals shocking results such as Senegal beating then-titleholder France 1-0 in the 2002 tournament opener and the United States stunning England by the same score in 1950.

ADVERTISEMENT

___

AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

___

Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

share