Lionel Messi and Argentina were big favorites to win this World Cup. Of course, Messi is one of the greatest to have done it, and Argentina is the best South American team. Interestingly, Messi has underperformed at times throughout the World Cup, so there was some concern that they could choke.
Unfortunately, drowning is exactly what they did. Despite a Messi penalty kick goal in the first half, the Argentines still lost. They faced Saudi Arabia, who were heavy losers in the match. Subsequently, Argentina did not respect their opponent, which led to a massive defeat. Now, the Arabian team is being celebrated, and it is well deserved.
SAUDI ARABIA SHOCKS THE WORLD π€― pic.twitter.com/tOFvllbfeD
β433 (@433) November 22, 2022
SAUDI ARABIA ARRIVED AT THE PARTY π€― pic.twitter.com/XaeuzDjT5s
β B/R Football (@brfootball) November 22, 2022
Consequently, Argentina is now at the bottom of their group, which also features the likes of Poland and Mexico. The next two games are going to be huge as they need to win to get to the knockout round. If they don’t make it, it will be one of the worst performances in the country’s history.
As is often the case during big upsets, the biggest star on the losing side got a bit of a smear. This is par for the course in the sports world, and it definitely won’t change any time soon.
However, Messi still has a chance to change people’s minds over the course of the next week.
In the tweets below you will find some hilarious analysis regarding Messi. He eventually caused a turnover that led to Saudi Arabia’s first goal. Also, apart from that penalty kick, he didn’t get to do much.
Messi woke up feeling DANGEROUS vs Saudi Arabia π₯Άπ₯Ά
β 1 lucky pen (pessi)ππ
β 0 assists π±π±
β 0 key passes ππ
β 13 offsides π―π―
β 23675 field scansπ‘π‘
β 73 km walked πΆββοΈπΆββοΈ
β 1963 Times forfeited π€¦ββοΈ π€¦ββοΈ
β 1 disappointed wife π€₯π€₯-Better than Al-Shehri?
β π (@GSTreyy) November 22, 2022
Are we going to forget Lionel Messi losing the ball that led Saudi Arabia to score the equalizing goal??? If this was Ronaldo, we would never hear the ending.pic.twitter.com/A3M0o7m27A
β Mu. (@FootballMuu) November 22, 2022
Lionel Messi has scored just 12 open play goals in 54 games in 11 major international tournaments pic.twitter.com/CmPgSPtsLd
β AllThingsSeleçãoβ’ (@SelecaoTalk) November 22, 2022
Argentina: We have a streak of 36 games without losing, no team can stop us. Lionel Messi is the π
Saudi Arabia:
pic.twitter.com/LNLyVcLXwBβ Trey γ½οΈ (@honest_papito) November 22, 2022
In the future, Argentina will have to get out of a huge hole. It will be a tall order, however the fact that they have two weaker opponents is encouraging. Either way, Saudi Arabia should have been an easy win, and they blew it.