Nearly ten thousand Saudi fans lived in the stands of the Lusail stadium one of the most glorious days in its sporting history. The second host, due to geographical proximity, of the World Cup plunged Messi's Argentina into drama. Unexpected, but explainable from many football arguments. An epic at the height of the greatest that are remembered. Since 1990 in the World Cup in Italy, the Albiceleste team had not lost in their debut in the group stage. Today he did it against the second worst team by ranking (51) in the tournament.
The miracle of Saudi Arabia has to do with their coach. the French Hervé Renard, obsessed with physical preparation, with a lot of international experience who was able to count on his players earlier than any other team. The acclimatization was complete. They had several weeks to concentrate thanks to the fact that all their players play in the local league. The Saudi Professional League decided to stop a few weeks before the start of the World Cup so that its national team could have up to a month and five friendlies to prepare.
Renard trained eleven athletes and designed a tactically very brave team. The key to drowning Argentina was in a very high pressure line. Renard planted the defensive line in midfield and invited Scaloni's men to play long, behind the defense. Seven offsides in the first half alone condemned Argentina.
Since they reached the round of 16 on their debut in the United States in 1994, Saudi Arabia had not been delighted on such a scale. In the entire history of the World Cups, they had only won three games, Belgium being their only European victim.
After the success of 1994 came reality. In France 1998, Korea-Japan 2002, Germany 2006 and, finally, in Russia 2018, they stayed in the group stage. Now they arrived as the best team in their area after beating Japan and Australia.
The name that stands out the most in the team is precisely the hero of the day: Salem Aldawsari. This striker is a war veteran who played a Spanish league match for Villarreal in 2018 against Real Madrid. His qualities were demonstrated in the action of the second goal. Speed, dribbling and ability to shoot. His goal served to achieve a victory that will be remembered forever in the Arab country. But the World Cup has only just begun and they will not put limits on his dreams after his great feat.
