QATAR 2022 FACTS & STATS: SAUDI ARABIA UPSETS THE WORLD IN WIN OVER ARGENTINA

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Farouq Oduola A.

FIFA World Cup Group C Match Statistics

ARGENTINA VS SAUDI ARABIA

Venue: Lusail Iconic Stadium

Argentina (L Messi 10′ pen) 1 – 2 Saudi Arabia (S Al-Shehri 48), S Al-Dawsari 53′)

Argentina XI (4-4-2): Martinez; Molina, Otamendi, Romero, Tagliafico; Di Maria, Paredes, De Paul, Gomez; Messi, Martinez

Saudi Arabia XI (4-4-1-1): Al-owais; Abdulhamid, Al-tambakti, Al-bulayhi, Al-shahrani; Al-faraj, Kanno, Al-malki; Al-brikan, Al-shehri, Al-dawsari.

MATCH FACTS

34 – Argentina are the first team in World Cup history to have four players aged 34+ in their starting XI (Lionel Messi, Nicolás Otamendi, Ángel Di María and Papu Gómez).

4 – Lionel Messi is the fifth player to score at four different World Cup tournaments (2006, 2014, 2018, 2022) after Pelé, Uwe Seeler, Miroslav Klose and Cristiano Ronaldo.

2 – The Saudi national team is the first Asian team to score Argentina with more than one goal in the history of the World Cup.

1 – For the first time, Argentina lost a World Cup match in which Lionel Messi scored (it won 5 previous matches, and for the first time Argentina lost a match in which Messi scored since 2011 (against Colombia)

2 – The Saudi national team is the second Asian team to defeat a South American team in the history of the World Cup, after Japan over Colombia 2018.

Saudi Arabia’s defeat of Argentina becomes one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history.

MATCH STATS

Possession: Argentina 66%-34 Saudi Arabia

Shots: Argentina 12-2 Saudi Arabia

Shots on target: Argentina 6-0 Saudi Arabia

Corners: Argentina 9-2 Saudi Arabia

Fouls: Argentina 7-21 Saudi Arabia

Yellow Card: Argentina 0-6 Saudi Arabia

Red Card: Argentina 0-0 Saudi Arabia

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Slavko Vincic.