With two weight returns, Saudi Arabia lost against Croatia in the last friendly before the debut against Argentina

Saudi Arabia, Argentina’s first World Cup rivals in Qatar, lost 1-0 against Group F member Croatia in their last preparations friendly on Wednesday.

Striker Andrej Kramaric converted the winning goal for the reigning world runners-upeight minutes from the end of the match played at the Prince Faisal bin Fahd stadium in Riyadh.

Frenchman Hervé Renard’s team greeted the fans with the first defeat of the preparation, which began at the end of October in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates.

Previously, the “Green Hawks” had recorded the following results: 1-0 against North Macedonia; 1-1 against Albania; 0-0 with Honduras; 1-0 over Iceland; and 1-1 against Panama.

in arabia The starters were captain Salman Alfaraj, who had suffered a shoulder injury, and striker Saleh Alshehriwhich also dragged a nuisance.

The team formed with Mohammed Alowais; Saud Abdulhamid, Abdulelah Alamri, Ali Albulayhi and Yasser Alshahrani; Mohamed Kanno and Abdulelah Almalki; Firas Albrikan, Salman Alfaraj, Salem Aldawsari; and Saleh Alshehri.

At the other end, Croatia fielded Dominik Livakovic; Josip Stanisic, Dejan Lovren, Martin Erlic and Borna Barisic; Lovro Majer, Marcelo Brozovic, Luka Sucic; Mario Pasalic, Nikola Vlasic and Bruno Petkovic.

Luka Modric, captain and figure of the Balkans, went to the bank of substitutes and came on to play for the last 25 minutes.

Saudi Arabia will make their Group C debut against Argentina on 22 November, while Croatia take on Morocco on 23 November.

With information from Telam