Authorities in Riyadh have declared a national holiday to commemorate Argentina’s shocking World Cup victory. As a result, ecstatic Saudi football fans who celebrated late on Tuesday can rest assured that they will be able to sleep in tomorrow.
The Green Falcons’ 2-1 victory over Argentina, one of the highest-ranked teams in the world, is one of the tournament’s biggest surprises.
It’s football here. The Saudi Arabia coach Hervé Renard stated, “Sometimes things are completely crazy.”Renard, who won the African Cup of Nations with Zambia in 2012 and Ivory Coast in 2015, added, “All the stars were aligned for us.”
In honor of the victory, King Salman of Saudi Arabia announced a snap public holiday for students and employees in the kingdom’s public and private sectors.
The unpopular African nation Cameroon made a similar announcement during the 1990 World Cup in Italy, when it defeated Argentina and declared a public holiday the following day.
Before pulling off the upset, Saudi Arabia had only won three World Cup matches. Second-half goals from Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-DawsarI responded to a Lionel Messi penalty in the 10th minute.
In Group C, Saudi Arabia will play Poland on Saturday and Mexico on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia stuns Argentina with inspired second-half performance Saudi Arabia stunned one of the pre-tournament favorites in their opening World Cup match with two second-half goals.
On Tuesday, the Argentines’ captain and talisman Lionel Messi scored a penalty 10 minutes after Saud Abdulhamid brought down Leandro Paredes in the box. Everything appeared to be going according to plan for the team.
Saudi Arabia then struggled to contain Argentina’s ferocious attacks. Shortly after scoring his first, Messi put the ball in the back of the net, but the goal was disallowed due to offside.
After Lautaro Martinez coolly dinked the ball over Saudi keeper Mohammed Al-Owais, another offside goal occurred.He ran away from the cheering Argentina fans, but the goal was disallowed by video assistant referees because of slight offside.
Despite having nearly two-thirds of possession in the first half, Argentina failed to capitalize, going offside seven times.
In their previous four matches, Saudi Arabia had never defeated Argentina. There were wild celebrations all over Doha and in the stadium after their victory over the favorites before the game.It was also the Middle Eastern team’s first World Cup victory, as the region had never hosted one before.
Iran lost to England on Monday and Qatar lost to Ecuador on Sunday
Mexico and Poland are different groups separated from Argentina and Saudi Arabia in Gathering C.
Argentina were the best bets to move to the following stage at the highest point of the gathering. While Saudi Arabia revels in the glory of their biggest football victory ever, they will now have to fight for that.
