Hervé Renard, a Frenchman, led Saudi Arabia to a 2-1 victory over Argentina in the World Cup on November 22, 2022.
Saudi Arabia is ranked 48 places lower than third-placed Argentina despite having a terrible record in the FIFA World Cup’s opening matches.
But with the seasoned Hervé Renard in charge, they managed to pull off a major upset in Qatar by rallying from a goal down in the first half and scoring twice in the second to defeat a tough opponent.
The Saudi Arabian Green Falcons, who were competing in their only sixth World Cup and had advanced to the round of 16 in 1994, showed that they too have a strong history.
Argentina dominated the first half comfortably, with Messi scoring a penalty goal in the 10th minute, but Hervé Renard gave his squad high hopes at the start of the second half to reverse Messi’s effort.
Messi was left stunned by Saleh Al-Shehri’s equalizer in the 48th minute and Salem Al-Dawasari’s goal in the 53rd minute, which gave the impression that what Hervé Renard told his players at halftime had been a complete success.
It is not surprising that the head coach of Saudi Arabia had higher hopes that his team would definitely qualify out of the group stage after he failed to qualify when he appeared in the competition with an African side, Morocco, for the first time since 1998.
Coach Renard had said ahead of the match, “I saw a country full of young, talented players. We achieved our first target; let us work together for the rest. We enjoyed a good preparation period, and all the players benefited from it. We look forward to presenting an honourable performance for Saudi Arabia.”
Argentina had lots of possession but couldn’t break through against a spirited Saudi Arabia team headed by Hervé Renard at the Lusail Stadium. Saudi Arabia will next face Poland in a FIFA World Cup 2016 Group C match on November 26.
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