Argentina suffered an absolute humiliation in their opening World Cup fixture today, losing 2-1 to Saudi Arabia in what is sure to go down as one of the competition’s biggest ever upsets.
Lionel Messi’s first half penalty gave Argentina the lead, but they weren’t at their best and leading football agent Jon Smith has told CaughtOffside that the underdogs deserve full credit for turning the game around in the second half.
Argentina will have been one of the pre-tournament favourites to win the World Cup, but that will now be in major doubt after this surprise defeat.
Speaking exclusively to CaughtOffside after the game, Smith questioned if Argentina look like they have the mental strength to come back from this, as the South American giants simply looked like they were expecting this to be a far easier game than it was.
“I thought Saudi Arabia just pressed well. Argentina looked like they just turned up for a kickabout and they got a surprise,” Smith said.
“I thought they were going to turn it around in the second half, but they didn’t, at that point they were so far on the back foot they couldn’t get on the front foot.
“It was a superb performance by Saudi Arabia in every department, and it was exemplified by that brilliant second goal.
“We’ll now just need to see if Argentina have the mental strength to come back from that the way they should, and if this is just a blip, but we mustn’t take anything away from Saudi Arabia here, it was their performance that won them this game.”
Messi has never won the World Cup and all eyes have been on him in the build-up to this tournament, as it will surely be his last chance to play in this competition before he retires.