Argentina, led by Lionel Messi, must put aside a shock defeat once morest Saudi Arabia that caused a deep wound to its dignity and summon the fighting spirit of a previous generation that faced a similar setback in 1990 if it wants to win the World Cup for the third time, according to a report by Archyde.com, Wednesday.
And Messi’s fifth and last attempt to perpetuate his name like Diego Maradona among the Argentines by winning the biggest title in football began disastrously, as Argentina suffered a 2-1 defeat once morest Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday, in one of the biggest surprises of the tournament in its history.
However, Messi and his team may take heart when he recalls what happened 32 years ago when Argentina started the World Cup in Italy with a shock loss to Cameroon but went on to reach the final.
“Can we still win it? Of course yes,” said former Argentine defender Pablo Zabaleta, citing the 1990 edition, although the South American team lost the final once morest West Germany at the time.
“There is still a long way to go,” he added.
The Argentine players did not express shock as they left Lusail Stadium following losing their impressive 36-game unbeaten record while the Saudis celebrated madly.
But as the shock wore off, the Argentine players regained their enthusiasm and turned their attention to the Group C matches once morest Mexico and Poland.
“Now is the time to be united more than ever, to show our true strength,” Messi, 35, told his teammates. “It is up to us to fix what we did badly.”
Let’s do it for Messi and the spirit of Maradona
Coach Lionel Scaloni sent the same message to his team, and said: “We have no choice but to raise morale and move forward. We will analyze the defeat calmly and we must work on the aspects that did not go well.”
Scaloni may focus in training on hitting the offside trap following Messi and Lautaro Martinez put the ball into the net four times between them in the first half once morest Saudi Arabia, but the referee awarded only one goal in favor of Messi from a penalty kick.
Although Argentina has recently strengthened its defense to keep pace with its striking attacking power, the team suffered from a period of insane lack of focus for ten minutes, during which the Saudis scored two goals to turn the match around.
Scaloni must quickly restore the defensive solidity that served Argentina so much to achieve an impressive unbeaten record since mid-2019, to occupy third place in the world rankings and become the leading contenders for the title in Qatar.
“We must do it for Messi, for the spirit of Maradona and for all Argentines,” fan Lionel Rodriguez told Archyde.com, wearing a blue and white flag emblazoned with Messi’s face as he walked with his friends in a street in the Qatari capital, Doha. In the end”.
And the Saudi national team exploded a resounding surprise, on Tuesday, by defeating Argentina 2-1, the candidate for the World Cup title, in the first matches of the two teams in Group C of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
And following Argentina advanced with a quick goal by star Lionel Messi from a penalty kick following 10 minutes, then canceled the mouse assistant referee technique for a second goal for the Tango team, it seemed that the “green” players and their coach Hervé Renard were on the road to a heavy defeat in the first meeting between the two fetuses with an Arab team in the history of the World Cup.
However, the Saudis rose up with the start of the second half and scored two consecutive goals through Saleh Al-Shehri in the 48th minute and Salem Al-Dosari in the 53rd minute.
The Saudi national team players were defensive following the two goals, to achieve the fatal victory, which represented an amazing surprise once morest Argentina.
During the match, the Saudi national team player, Yasser Al-Shahrani, suffered a severe injury during the last minutes of the Saudi match once morest Argentina, following a collision with Al-Owais, to leave the stadium, and Muhammad Al-Buraik participated in his place at the 98th minute of the match.