Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com
It’s been some time since the first game on day 2 ended in a shocker with Saudi Arabia beating Argentina 2-1 in FIFA World Cup 2022. Lionel Messi, who was the lone scorer for his team said five bad minutes of play saw them going down in their first encounter at this year’s World Cup in Qatar.
Speaking to an Argentine television news channel, Todo Noticias after the loss, Messi said they didn’t expect to start the tournament like this and that this is a situation in which most of his team players have never really been.
“It’s a situation that this group of players has never been through, it’s been a while since we suffered such a tough blow, we didn’t expect to start like this,” Lionel Messi said.
Messi, who opened the scoring for his team had his one goal disallowed in the first half before Saudi Arabia made a remarkable comeback and netted two goals inside five minutes in the next half to put their team ahead against the tournament favourites.
Talking about that phase, Messi said, “In five minutes of mistakes that we made, we went 2-1 down, and then it was really tough and we lost organization and started punting the ball.”
Messi’s Argentina, who entered this tournament with 36 successive wins behind their back, knew what Saudi Arabia is capable of despite being ranked the second-lowest team in FIFA World Cup 2022.
“We knew they were a team who would play if we let them…They did not surprise us, we knew they could do that.”
With two more matches left to be played in the group C against Mexico (November 27th) and Poland (December 21st), Messi believes winning is the only option his team have if they have to live their dream of lifting the World Cup.
“Obviously we have to win or win now. It’s up to us to fix what we did wrong and get back to the basics of who we are.”
