And one night it ended, the Argentine unbeaten streak is over at 36 games and Lionel Messi and company were left shell shocked after Saudi Arabia scored 2 sensational goals to lift the “Green Falcons” over the Albiceleste 2-1.
It is not the first time Argentina lose their opening group match, in Italy 1990 they lost 1-0 to Cameroon only to play in the final against Germany. The defeat also marked the first time since the 1930 final to Uruguay that Argentina lost a match in which they entered halftime in the lead.
Along with this historic victory for the Saudi’s here are other memorable World Cup upsets, some are still fresh in the minds of millions of soccer fans around the world.
World Cup upsets
In the 1974 World Cup the East Germans defeated their powerful neighbors West Germany 1-0. It was a huge blow for the eventual champions but for a few days the politically divisive match had the East Germans getting one over their neighbors.
Saudi Arabia players celebrate the 2-1 win during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group C match between Argentina and Saudi Arabia (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
As mentioned before Argentina opened the Italy 90 World Cup against Cameroon, Diego Maradona and his teammates were on automatic pilot and a Francois Omam-Biyik goal gave the African nation a 1-0 win. Argentina would be one of the worst finalists in World Cup history going 1-1-1 in the group stage and winning two penalty kick shootouts to reach the final.
In 2002, France would open the World Cup with a stunning defeat to Senegal 1-0. The 1998 champions would go on to get knocked out in the first round and go scoreless in Japan/Korea.
One of the greatest upsets in World Cup history was in 1950 when the USMNT, made up of semiprofessional players, defeated mighty England 1-0 in Brazil. Joe Gaetjens scored the game winning goal in the 38th minute.
Other major results were:
Northern Ireland 1 – Spain 0 (1982)
Cuba 2 – Romania 1 (1938)
Algeria 2 – West Germany 1 (1982)
Korea Republic 2 – Italy 1 (2002)
Korea DPR 1 – Italy 0 (1966)
