Saudi Arabia Surprises Argentina at the World Cup

Saudi Arabia Surprises Argentina at the World Cup

Saudi Arabia defeated Argentina, two to one at the World Cup soccer competition on Tuesday. The victory against one of the world's best teams is one of the biggest surprises in the history of the event.

Argentina played well in the first half, and the team's star, Lionel Messi, scored a goal. But early in the second half, Saudi Arabia scored twice, and Argentina was not able to recover.

Soccer experts say Messi may be the best soccer player ever, but he has never won the World Cup. This year's tournament in Qatar is thought to be his last chance.

When asked about how he felt about the result, Messi said: "The truth? Dead. It's a very hard blow because we did not expect to start in this way."

Argentina had not lost in 36 games before falling to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia, known as the Green Falcons¹, won its opening game of the World Cup for the first time in six tries. Saudi Arabia is ranked 31st of the 32 teams in this year's World Cup.

Reporters covering the game said the atmosphere was "extraordinary," meaning very unusual. Argentina had a large group of fans in the sports center and an equally large number of supporters came from nearby Saudi Arabia.

Argentina had many scoring opportunities in the first half, but aside from Messi's goal, three others were called back because players were ruled offsides. Saudi Arabia did not have a shot on goal in the first half.

Lionel Scaloni is Argentina's coach. He said that is sometimes how the World Cup goes.

"Sometimes you can steamroll opponents² and, in a couple of plays, you are losing," Scaloni said.

When the game ended, the Saudi Arabia players yelled³, "Where is Messi? We beat him!"

The last big win by Saudi Arabia came against Belgium in 1994.

Lautaro Martinez, a member of the Argentinian team, said "this hurts a lot, we were dreaming of starting the World Cup with a win." He said Argentina lost because of "our own mistakes, most of all in the second half."

Speaking of his team's two remaining games against Mexico and Poland, he said, "We are facing two finals now."

Argentina will likely have to win its next two games to be able to continue in the competition.

During the game, Messi became the first Argentinian to score in four World Cup tournaments. But his goal was not celebrated⁴ too much because of the loss.

The win by Saudi Arabia is seen as one of the most surprising in World Cup history. Before Tuesday, soccer experts said the biggest upsets, or surprise wins, in tournament history came when the U.S. defeated England in 1950 and when Cameroon defeated Argentina in 1990.

Saudi Arabia's Abdulelah Al-Malki said his team was inspired by their French coach, Herve Renard.

"Renard made us cry with the motivation before the match and stoked us up during halftime," he said.

"All the stars aligned⁶ for us," Renard said. "It's one for the history books," he added.

The last time Argentina lost was in the semi-finals of the Copa America tournament in July 2019. They play Mexico on Saturday and Poland on November 30.

Words in This Story

blow –n. a sudden event that causes disappointment or sadness

offside –adj. (sports) when a player is in a place on the field where they are not permitted to be and any gain is disqualified

steamroll –v. to completely defeat someone or something

inspire –v. to cause people to want to do something or to reach a goal

motivation –n. a reason to work hard

stoke –v. to increase the strength of something or add fuel to a fire

align⁵ –v. to have conditions come together that permit something rare to happen

1 falcons   

n.猎鹰( falcon的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Peregrine falcons usually pluck the feathers and strip the flesh off their bird prey. 游隼捕到鸟类猎物时，通常是先拔掉它们的羽毛，再把肉撕下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Though he doubted the wisdom of using falcons, Dr. de la Fuente undertook the project. 虽然德·拉·富恩特博士怀疑使用游隼是否明智，但他还是执行了这项计划。 来自辞典例句

2 opponents   

n.对手，敌手( opponent的名词复数 )；反对者

参考例句：

• Somehow he always manages to outwit his opponents. 他反正总能设法智胜对手。
• to use strong-arm tactics against your political opponents 用强制手段对付政敌

3 yelled   

v.叫喊，号叫，叫着说( yell的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He yelled at the other driver. 他冲着另一位司机大叫。
• The lost man yelled, hoping someone in the woods would hear him. 迷路的人大声喊着，希望林子里的人会听见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

5 align   

vt.使成一线，结盟，调节；vi.成一线，结盟

参考例句：

• Align the ruler and the middle of the paper.使尺子与纸张的中部成一条直线。
• There are signs that the prime minister is aligning himself with the liberals.有迹象表明首相正在与自由党人结盟。

6 aligned   

adj.对齐的，均衡的

参考例句：

• Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard.务必使搁架与橱柜顶端对齐。