Argentina got entangled in Saudi Arabia’s net and suffered a historic blow in Qatar

From euphoria to disbelief in the blink of an eye. The surprise is complete. The debut of Argentina national team in Qatar 2022 It was what no one imagined or expected. The team of Lionel Scaloni failed to maintain their first-half lead due to Messi’s penalty and, reeling in nervousness, were overtaken by a Saudi Arabia concentrated and intense that took advantage of the absolute albiceleste disorder and turned it upside down. The 2-1 defeat in the first game and against the more accessible rivals in group C – in theory – was a blow to confidence and meant, finally, the end of the unbeaten run of 36 games. The worst boot ever thought.

Just a minute and a half Lionel Messi He’d already had a brutal heads-up that Mohammed Al Owais covered in pure reflection. The omen was promising. On the 10th it had caught fire on the grass of an immense Lusail Stadium populated by 88 thousand people. He’ll get another one It was the thought of the thousands of Argentines who were immediately entering the largest stadium in Qatar (the final will be played here).

What happens if, he had another Leo. criminal. the Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic received the warning from the VAR before a Lazio free-kick in attack. He went to see the monitor and verified that in the previous play there was a small grip by Salman Al Faraj on Leandro Paredes, who ended up rolling on the ground. No one had demanded too much… But the judge debited the penalty which the captain converted.

Messi waited for the goalkeeper to play a stick and calmly switched it to the opposite. It was his sixth goal at the World Cup. 10 minutes go by and calm begins to reign in the national team because good feelings reign.

But the optimism was short-lived. On the field, things didn’t go as planned, as well as maintaining the difference. The Arabs have cobbled together a spider tactical system. They wove a cloth that La Scaloneta was hooked into over and over again.

Saudi Arabia joined their lines and Argentina didn’t favor their usual game, that of looking for inside passes and building up a game until they find spaces. The 4-4-2 albiceleste split into a 4-2-4, with Angel Di Maria and Alejandro Gomez as wingers on a par with Messi and Lautaro Martínez.

To try to take advantage of the rival proposal, Scaloni bet on a more direct plan. But Arabia also had a tool to disable che: he used the bilge of his last joke very well. The national team scored three goals not counted for advanced position: one from Messi and two from Lautaro (one was only offside from the shoulder, detected by the semi-automatic offside).

In total there were seven advanced positions in the first part. In all of Russia 2018 they had charged him for six in total. Scaloni’s men can’t find a way out in a game that becomes more complicated as the minutes go by because the opponent is fast and is encouraged to stifle the start.

With the winning team, the stands filled with Argentines were dull, with no songs. And yes, they listened the Arab fans all dressed in green, fewer in number but much noisier. All the fury experienced in the previous and on the periphery of the stadium, has not moved inside.

The team was not contagious and sank between nervousness and inaccuracies. The double five, De Paul-Paredes, didn’t take a decisive step and Papu’s good intentions didn’t coincide with the rest. A shot by De Paul in the clouds could have closed the first set with another goal needed to defuse the concern that lurked in the environment. Hand.

Fears became flesh in the first fateful eight minutes of the complement in which the Selection was an absolute bewilderment. Saleh Al-Shehri ran away down the left, Cristian Romero couldn’t finish despite the effort and the striker defined the cross to clear it away from I drew Martinez. That play came from a ball lost in the middle by Messi.

Amazement seemed to freeze Argentine hearts, in the stands and on the grass. The Selection suffered a fatal moment. Five minutes later, Salem Al Dawsari scored a great goal, evading three blue and white men and firing a shot at the far post.

Uneasy, Argentina tried to rearm. In Lisandro Martínez (Romero felt uncomfortable in the first goal), Julián Alvarez (per Papua Gómez) and Enzo Fernández (for a lazy Paredes). Arabia balked with up to seven men in her defence.

After the strikeouts, there are a couple of situations: Messi’s header, a carom from Tagliafico and a blow from Alvarez in the 60th minute. The national team has never flowed onto the Lusail field and all the temperance that seemed to radiate here has vanished in this premiere which leaves many questions, mainly, knowing how this group reacts to adversity, something they are not used to.

Lusail, Qatar. Special delivery.