Home ›› 22 Nov 2022 ›› Sport
Argentina will begin their attempt to end their 36-year drought for World Cup glory against Saudi Arabia at the Lusail Stadium today as they become one of the first teams of group C to take the field first.
La Albiceleste, who are unbeaten for 36 matches since 2019, will be looking forward to getting off to a good start against the Saudis, who sit 51st in the FIFA rankings, 48 steps behind Argentina.
Argentina, in their pre-World Cup warm-up game, thrashed UAE 5-0 to find some early confidence. They have seen late changes to their squad due to injuries, but Lionel Scaloni will be confident of his side to not lose rhythm as the World Cup begins.
Argentina must shake off ghosts of the past ahead of their tournament opener too as they drew 1-1 against Iceland last time in Russia. Lionel Messi missed a penalty in that match, and he will be hoping for a different start in his last World Cup bout.
In their opening match, besides Messi, Argentina will bet on Angel Di Maria to find the net as he already displayed that his shooting boots are ready with his wonderful volley against UAE.
How Argentina will plan their midfield in Giovani Lo Celso’s absence is also a question, with both Enzo Fernandez and Alexis Mac Allister an option for Scaloni to pick.
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia, who are at their sixth World Cup, will look for a different fate than the last time too. Drawn into the group with hosts Russia, Saudi Arabia could only win one match against Egypt as they crashed out of the group stages. Their best finish to date is the round of 16 in 1994, and they will hope to make history repeat itself.
They come into the World Cup as they have lost only one of their last seven matches, which came against Croatia. In this period, they beat Iceland and North Macedonia, along with draws against Ecuador, USA, and Panama.
Their biggest player Salman Al-Faraj, a central midfielder, is a veteran with 70 international appearances, including eight goals, and will be marshalling the midfield, trying to stop the Argentines.
The match has been predicted by many to be an attack against defence affair as Saudi Arabia will look to defend deep and find goals on the counter. That is a big possibility because, in the final round of the qualifiers, they only scored 12 goals in 10 matches to qualify by edging Japan and Australia.
While Argentina are looking for the full three points to kick off their campaign, they must be wary of Saudi Arabia because they will be putting up a fight that is more than decent.
