Saudis jubilant after 2-1 upset of Argentina, Messi
LUSAIL, Qatar – Jubilation followed the final whistle. Disbelief quickly set in.
Saudi Arabia, a team that had only ever won three World Cup matches in its history, just pulled off possibly the biggest upset in the tournament’s history. They beat Argentina 2-1.
“One for the books,” Saudi Arabia coach Hervé Renard said. “This is football. Sometimes things are completely crazy.”
Goalkeeper Mohammed Alowais, who made two key saves late in the game to preserve the win on Tuesday at Lusail Stadium north of Doha, was almost subdued at the end, perhaps not grasping the magnitude of the upset.
“I am very happy about this result that we have been able to obtain against this very storied team,” Alowais said solemnly. “We have prepared ourselves. We were 100% ready and hopefully we will have better results in the future. I felt we were especially good in the last minutes because we secured our three points.”
Not just in the last minutes. Despite trailing 1-0 at halftime after a 10th-minute goal from Lionel Messi, perhaps the greatest soccer player of all time, Saleh Alshehri and Salem Aldawsari managed to score a goal each early in the second half.
Then came more than 50 minutes, including added time at the end of the match at the referee’s discretion, of holding one of the tournament favorites at bay.
“All the stars aligned for us,” said Renard, who won the African Cup of Nations as coach of Zambia in 2012 and then again with Ivory Coast in 2015.
Renard has has also coached Angola and Morocco, which he guided to the 2018 World Cup in Russia. He took over Saudi Arabia in 2019.
“We made history for Saudi football,” Renard said. “It will stay forever. This is the most important. But we also need to think about looking forward because we still have two games that are very, very difficult for us.”
Saudi Arabia will next face Poland on Saturday and then take on Mexico next Tuesday in Group C.
– Stephen Wade, Associated Press
Giroud, Mbappe help France beat Australia 4-1
AL WAKRAH, Qatar – France showed it can cope without its star striker at the World Cup.
Kylian Mbappe scored one goal and set up the second of Olivier Giroud’s two goals to help the defending champions beat Australia 4-1 Tuesday.
Giroud equaled Thierry Henry’s national record of 51 goals with a header from Mbappe’s cross in the 71st minute.
Moments earlier, Mbappe headed in Ousmane Dembele’s cross from the right to start this World Cup as he finished the last – with a goal. He knelt with one hand behind his back and his finger on his forehead in a new celebration.
Giroud didn’t even score at the last World Cup.
Craig Goodwin gave Australia the lead when he turned in winger Mathew Leckie’s cross in the ninth minute. France midfielder Adrien Rabiot equalized with a powerful header in the 27th and set up Giroud’s first goal shortly after.
France was playing without the injured Karim Benzema, who was ruled out of the World Cup last week.
– Jerome Pugmire, AP
Tunisia holds Denmark to draw
AL RAYYAN, Qatar – Tunisia held European Championship semifinalist Denmark to a 0-0 draw Tuesday at the World Cup.
Coming three hours after Saudi Arabia beat Argentina in a shocking upset – and before a stadium filled almost entirely with Tunisia supporters – it was another big result for two of the four Arab nations competing at the first World Cup in the Middle East.
Tunisia likely deserved more but an expert save shortly before halftime by goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel helped Denmark preserve the draw.
Schmeichel stuck his hand up to deflect a shot from Issam Jebali, who plays his club ball in Denmark for Odense.
The match marked Christian Eriksen’s return to a major tournament less than a year and a half after his cardiac arrest with Denmark at Euro 2020.
Assuming his customary playmaker position, Eriksen produced a dangerous long-distance shot on goal in the second half that Tunisia goalkeeper Aymen Dahmen had to bat away.