The countdown to the 2026 World Cup is on! Each day ahead of the tournament’s return to North America, Yahoo Sports will highlight an insight or moment that showcases just how grand the world’s biggest sporting spectacle has become — even beyond the expanded field of this year’s global event.
The road to Argentina’s World Cup victory in 2022 got off to a bumpy start. Their opening match against Saudi Arabia would put pressure on La Albiceleste to win their second group stage game against Mexico in order to have a chance to advance.
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Saudi Arabia would stun Argentina 2-1, but not until after the eventual champions made life difficult over the first 45 minutes.
Lionel Messi scored a 10th-minute penalty and the match was going as many expected. Argentina could have had three more first-half goals, but all three were ruled out due to offside.
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Qatar’s Lusail Stadium, which Argentina became very familiar with during the tournament having hosted five of its matches, including the final, did not expect what transpired in the second half.
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Saudi Arabia struck quickly with Saleh Al-Shehri equalizing in the 48th minute. Five minutes later, the match changed for good with Salem Al-Dawsari’s brilliant individual effort to create space and curl a shot past goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez.
Argentina was now in desperation mode. La Albiceleste would finish with 15 shot attempts and six shots on target, but could not beat Saudi Arabia goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais for a second-half equalizer.
Messi and Co. would recover after the defeat, which snapped their 36-match unbeaten run, and end up winning the group after a pair of 2-0 wins over Mexico and Poland. After topping Australia in the Round of 16, they survived the “Battle of Lusail” against the Netherlands before blanking Croatia 3-0 in the semifinals and outlasting France in an epic final.
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The win was only Saudi Arabia’s fourth all time at a World Cup They would lose to Mexico and Poland in their final two matches to finish at the bottom of the group. But the win over Argentina gave them a memory for a lifetime.
“When you are coming into a World Cup you need to believe in yourself,” said Saudi Arabia manager Hervé Renard afterward. “Everything can happen in football. We have made history for Saudi football and it will stay forever. They came here without losing in 36 games, they are South American champions and they have amazing players, but this is football.
“Sometimes something completely crazy can happen.”
