It was in 1990: the extreme physical toughness and conviction of Cameroon surprised
Diego Maradona
's Argentina with a 1-0 victory that remains one of the biggest surprises in World Cup history.
Thirty-two years later,
Lionel Messi
has his own drama, because the 2-1 defeat against Saudi Arabia left a country speechless, sunk in stupor that believed so, that in Qatar 2022 the title that the country would finally reach He has not won since Mexico 86.
This time there was not even physical hardness from the rival,
it was enough with the semi-automatic VAR for Argentina to self-destruct
.
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World Cup 2022.
Messi's Argentina suffers a historic collapse against a memorable Saudi Arabia
Drafting: FRANCISCO CABEZAS (Special envoy) Lusail
Messi's Argentina suffers a historic collapse against a memorable Saudi Arabia
"Landslide in Qatar", headlined
La Nación
.
"No margin for error," added
Infobae
.
"Waste, soccer sin", concluded the television in
a soccer nightmare morning for the two-time world champion
.
The game,
at seven in the morning on a cool spring morning
, brought people before giant screens in some parks, but it was lived mostly in homes.
The agreement was in many cases tacit: the children's work and school could wait until nine in the morning, when everyone, happy after their debut, could resume normal activity after a festive long weekend that lasted until Monday.
There was no happiness, but endless regrets.
The biggest of all, Lautaro Martínez's offside due to a shoulder
, which meant it was 2-0 after Argentina went ahead 1-0 after nine minutes with a goal from Messi from a penalty.
Three disallowed goals
There were three goals canceled due to advanced position in that first half and some more wasted.
In that succession of celebrations and disappointments, Argentina's confidence and football slipped away, sunk in the sand of the Qatari desert.
The albiceleste team, which entered the World Cup with an undefeated record of 36 games
, found that its inability to score goals was compounded by the strengthening Saudi Arabia, a team that saw the opportunity and seized on it.
The combination was lethal.
From a first half in which the Saudis almost did not aim the ball at the goal, while Argentina missed all kinds of goals, it went to an almost opposite situation.
With a midfield without rhythm or precision, the albiceleste did not know what to do with the ball, while those in the green jersey began to dominate the emotional duel and gain confidence in the game.
"Our Mistakes"
"It is clear that
we lost the game due to our mistakes
, more than anything in the second half," Martínez admitted to Argentine television.
"In the first half we should have scored more than one goal. Now we have to rest and think about what's to come, because there are two finals".
The two finals are
on Saturday the 26th against Mexico and on Wednesday the 30th with Poland
.
With no room for error, and with a physically diminished Messi who finished the game, the memory returns with fear: after that defeat against Cameroon at San Siro,
the team led by Carlos Bilardo recovered with more epic than football to reach the final and fall with Germany
.
But today no one in Argentina dreams of the final on December 18.
The bet, the desperate plea, is that the dream of a few hours ago does not mutate into a nightmare, that the albiceleste does not say goodbye to the World Cup in the first round.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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Argentine Soccer Team
Saudi Arabia national football team
Leo Messi