Lionel Messi suffers an unsettling defeat at the hands of Saudi Arabia.
Tuesday in Lusail, Qatar, in the Group C World Cup opening, Saudi Arabia shocked Argentina and Lionel Messi by scoring twice in the second half to come back from a one-goal
deficit.At Lusail Stadium, Messi scored a penalty kick goal in the tenth minute. Saudi Arabia's goals came from winger Salem Al-Dawsari and striker Saleh Al-Shehri.
The third-ranked nation in the world, Argentina, is one of the top three favourites to win the competition. Saudi Arabia, who is rated No. 51, had had three victories
in its previous 16 World Cup appearances coming into this game.Saudi Arabia currently holds the group lead with three points, while Argentina is at the bottom of Group C.
Tuesday in Qatar 2022 in Doha, Mexico and Poland will compete in another Group C opener at 11 a.m. EST.
Leandro Paredes was fouled by Saudi defender Ali Al-Bulayhi in the penalty area, leading to the game's first goal. Messi then took a step toward the penalty spot and
curled a shot into the left corner of the goal to defeat Mohammed Al-Owais of Saudi Arabia.In the 22nd minute, Messi had yet another goal disallowed for offside.
In the first half, two additional Argentine touchdowns were also ruled to be off-side.In the 48th minute, Messi made a turnover that resulted in the equaliser.
Abdulelah Al-Malki, a centre midfielder, retrieved the errant ball and chipped a long ball toward the penalty area. Feras-Al-Buraikan, a winger, passed the ball upfield to
Al-Shehri, who manoeuvred it past some players and fired a shot just inside the far post.After an initial attempt was blocked by the Argentine defence, Saudi Arabia added
the winning goal in the 53rd minute. While within the box, Al-Dawsari pulled down the deflection. He then dribbled past defenders before unleashing a right-footed blast
past diving Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez. Martinez managed to get a finger on the shot but was powerless to stop it from going into the goal.