Historic victory and above-expected performance leave Saudi Arabia with real chances of qualifying for the round of 16.
One of the biggest expectations of this World Cup consisted of Argentina’s debut, one of the big favorites to win the title in Qatar due to the tactical organization promoted by coach Lionel Scaloni.
Winning the 2021 Copa America against Brazil in the middle of the Maracanã stadium sparked a great recovery of confidence in Argentines and promoted the rapprochement of the team with the country, one of the most passionate about football in the world.
In the first half of his World Cup debut, Scaloni managed to implement his traditional 4-2-3-1 tactical system, with Lionel Messi working outside the penalty area, looking for passes to Rodrigo De Paul, Leandro Paredes and Guido Rodriguez.
The Argentines quickly opened the scoring with Lionel Messi easily converting the kick after a debatable penalty scored with VAR intervention, a situation that should be frequent in this World Cup.
Following the first half, Argentina scored three more goals, all annulled due to the extremely well-articulated offside line by Saudi Arabia, which managed to resist the offensive power of the Argentines.
The Arabs entered this World Cup with low expectations, even from the local people, as the selection is one of the worst in terms of the technical quality of the players.
However, the defensive formation of 4-4-2 (with variations for 4-3-3) prevented the offensive development of Argentina. Saudi Arabia also surprised in their posture with intermediate lines and pressure in the final third.
In the second half, Argentina exposed its main weakness, the imbalance in the technical quality of the players between attack and defense. Because he dominates possession of the ball, failures allow spaces on both flanks in counterattacks.
Everything indicates that Saudi Arabia paid close attention in the Copa America semifinal against Colombia, a match in which the Argentines had the most difficulty in that campaign.
Early in the second half, Saleh Alshehri took advantage of Lionel Messi’s failure to control the ball and overcame goalkeeper Martínez.
A few minutes later, Salem Aldawsari scored the best goal of the World Cup so far when he broke the deadlock and hit from outside the area, in the corner, leaving Argentina completely lost inside the field.
Scaloni brought in Enzo Fernández, Lisandro Martíinez, Julian Álvarez and Marcos Acuña with the aim of putting more pressure on Saudi Arabia in search of victory.
The Argentines dominated possession of the ball until the final whistle, but the strategic failure of not being able to attack from the inside, only from the sides, left Argentina hostage to the ball lifts in the penalty area, without any effectiveness.
On the other hand, we must consecrate the best tactical display of this World Cup. Saudi Arabia had excellent performance in the compacts, in the well-coordinated movements with the ball and in some moments of technical quality.
Meanwhile, Argentina got a shock of reality that broke their 36-match unbeaten streak. We will certainly have a change of attitude in the environment of the selection commanded by Lionel Scaloni, but the possibly shaken confidence may have put an end to this campaign.
