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Messi offers no excuses for Argentina's loss to Saudi Arabia

Lionel Messi. dpa

Lionel Messi offers no excuses for Argentina's stunning loss to Saudi Arabia

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 11/22/22

Saudi Arabia's stunning upset of Argentina at the World Cup on Tuesday led to one obvious question: Did Argentina, owners of a 36-match win streak entering the tournament, take their opening-round opponent lightly?

Lionel Messi insists that was not the case and offered no excuses for the loss while urging Argentina supporters to keep the faith.

Said Messi, via ESPN:

"My message to the supporters is to have faith," Messi added. "We won't leave them stranded. "We knew that Saudi Arabia is a team with good players, that they move the ball well, and that they push the [defensive] line a lot. We worked on it, but we rushed a bit. We have to go back to the base of who we are. We have to think about what's next."

Messi said his teammates were feeling "dead" after the game and that it was a very hard blow to accept because they expected to walk out of the match with three points in group play and get some calmness at the start of the tournament.

"We expected to get the three points that would have given us calmness," Messi said. "Things happen for a reason. We have to prepare for what is coming, we have to win, and it depends on us. "There are no excuses. We are going to be more united than ever. This group is strong, and we have shown it. It is a situation that we haven't gone through in a long time. Now we have to show that this is a real group. "It's a painful loss but we have to continue to trust ourselves," he said. "We must turn the page and move on. We have to analyze what went wrong. Focus on the positives and turn our attention to the game against Mexico."

Argentina entered as one of the tournament's top favorites and looked to be in complete control of the game early on. Messi gave Argentina a 1-0 lead in the first 10 minutes on a penalty kick, while Argentina also had three other potential goals wiped out on offsides calls all within the first 35 minutes of the game.

Argentina also had a dominant edge in possession (70-30) and shots (15-3) during the match.

But Saudi Arabia was able to capitalize with a pair of goals and hold on for the stunning win, which is only its fourth in World Cup history.

The good news for Argentina? The tournament is not over, and there is some precedent for a soccer super power to overcome an early upset loss and still find success. Back in 2010, Spain was upset in its opening match in Group play when it dropped a 1-0 decision to Switzerland. Spain went on to run the table after that match, winning each of its next six games through the Final and only allowed one goal in the process.

If Argentina can take care of business in its remaining group games against Mexico and Poland (who both played to a draw on Tuesday) it will still able to get through to the knockout round, but the pressure is definitely going to be on.

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