Historic Saudi win all about spirit, collective endeavour

There wasn’t a hint of fluke: it was a classic minnows’ victory

They said the Arab nations don’t have a footballing tradition. They do now. The World Cup may have begun with a loose performance from the hosts Qatar as they were beaten 2-0 by Ecuador in the opening match: the first hosts ever to lose their opening match.

But two days later Saudi Arabia rolled in from next door and beat Argentina. Saudi, ranked 51st in the world, beat the world No 3 — and there wasn’t a hint of fluke about it. Rather it was a classic minnows’ victory: all about spirit and collective endeavour.

Saudi played a high line and put their faith in VAR; Argentina had three first-half efforts ruled out for offside. But it was surely just a matter of time: Lionel Messi had put Argentina 1-0 up with a cute rolled penalty and more goals would surely come.

They sure did. They came at the other end because Saudi played with organisation, commitment and serious aggression — and the Argentinians didn’t fancy it. Perhaps it’s the eternal problem of the superstar: if you have Messi in your side, you just wait for him to win it for you. And he didn’t.

But never mind Messi: let’s praise the brave Green Falcons. Running and bullying is not enough: you need goals and the Saudis got two against a team that was supposed to have the best defence at the World Cup, unbeaten for 36 matches over three years.

Inspired shot

The goals came from a wonderfully accurate running shot just inside the far post from Saleh Al Shehri, and five minutes later from Salem Al Dawsari’s inspired shot on the turn.

After that it was all blocks and tackles and saves throughout 14 added minutes.

Mexico and Poland lie in wait for both teams, and Saudi might have enough left to reach the round of 16. And it’s not all over for Argentina: they lost their opening match to Cameroon in 1990 and still reached the final. So we have a tournament on our hands: we have football at last.

Simon Barnes is author of a dozen books on sport, including Epic and The Meaning of Sport. He was formerly chief sportswriter of The Times.

AP Saudi Arabia’s Salem Al Dawsari, second left, celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal during the World Cup group C match against Argentina at the Lusail Stadium yesterday.