FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022: King Salman of Saudi Arabia declared Wednesday as a national holiday after the Gulf nation beat Lionel Messi’s Argentina on Tuesday.

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Saudi Arabia pulled off possibly the biggest upset in the history of the tournament, despite having only ever won three World Cup games. They beat Argentina, 2-1. 

For Argentina, Lionel Messi scored their solitary goal — a penalty kick in the 10th minute; while Saudi overcame the deficit after half-time courtesy goals from Saleh Alshehri and Salem Aldawsari in the 48th and 53rd minutes, respectively.

"One for the books," Saudi Arabia coach Hervé Renard said. "This is football. Sometimes things are completely crazy."

Mohammed Alowais, the goalkeeper who made two crucial saves late in the game to preserve the victory on Tuesday at Lusail Stadium north of Doha, appeared nearly dejected at the conclusion of the match, possibly not realising the significance of the shock.

"I am very happy about this result that we have been able to obtain against this very storied team," Alowais said solemnly. "We have prepared ourselves. We were 100% ready and hopefully we will have better results in the future. I felt we were especially good in the last minutes because we secured our three points."

Not just in the nick of time. Saleh Alshehri and Salem Aldawsari were able to score goals early in the second half despite trailing 1-0 at halftime following a goal by Lionel Messi, undoubtedly the biggest soccer player of all time, in the 10th minute.

The next phase of the game lasted for more than 50 minutes, including extra time extended after the match's conclusion at the referee's discretion.

Renard, who led both Zambia and Ivory Coast to African Cup of Nations victories in 2012 and 2015, remarked, "All the stars aligned for us." 

Additionally, Renard has coached Morocco and Angola, which he led to the 2018 World Cup in Russia. He took over Saudi Arabia in 2019.

Renard declared, "We made history for Saudi football. It will stay forever. This is the most important. But we also need to think about looking forward because we still have two games that are very very difficult for us." 

Next up for Saudi Arabia in Group C is a Saturday match against Poland, followed by a Tuesday match against Mexico.

{With PTI inputs}

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