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Lusail – Saudi Arabia defeated Argentina 2-1 in the first match of Group C phase of the 2022 World Cup at Lusail Stadium, Tuesday (22/11/2022).
On paper, Saudi Arabia is a relatively easy opponent. However, there are always surprises in football.
Argentina took the lead thanks to Lionel Messi’s goal. But in the second half Saudi Arabia managed to reverse the position to 2-1.
The figure of Salem Al-Dawsari became the hero of Saudi Arabia ‘s victory . Thanks to his goal, The Falcons won this match.
Who is the figure of Salem Al-Dawsari?
Salem Al-Dawsari’s journey began with the Al-Hilal youth team. He has strengthened the Saudi Arabia giants since he was a child.
He first broke into the Al-Hilal main team in 2011 ago. Since then he has always been a mainstay in Al-Hilal’s attack line.
With Al-Hilal, he managed to win 5 Saudi Arabia League trophies, 3 Saudi Cup trophies, 2 Saudi Crown Prince Cup trophies, and 1 Saudi Super Cup trophy. He also brought Al Hilal to win the AFC Champions League twice.
Even though he spent his career at Al-Hilal Saudi Arabia, Al-Dawsari had a chance to play in Spain.
In January 2018, he was loaned to Villarreal. The La Liga giants are interested in using the services of the striker because they had experienced a striker crisis.
However, he only strengthened for The Yellow Submarine before being returned to Al-Hilal in the summer.
Al-Dawsari first broke into the Saudi Arabia national team in 2011. He was called up for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.
He scored his first goal with Saudi Arabia in a match against Australia in 2012. Since then he has become a mainstay in Saudi Arabia’s attack line.
Until now, he has collected 71 caps with The Falcons, where he has collected a total of 17 goals.
France, who came to the 2022 World Cup with the status of defending champion, is in trouble. One by one the players prepared by Les Bleus, the French nickname for Qatar, fell.
Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante, who were the backbone in the previous edition, have been ruled out for a long time due to injury. Most recently, Karim Benzema and Christopher Nkunku were also forced to step aside for the same reason.
The curse of the reigning World Cup champion has resurfaced in social media columns. France seemed to be on the ‘right track’ to follow in the footsteps of Italy, Spain and Germany who could not get past the group stages while trying to defend their title.
With a series of problems that arose, coach Didier Deschamps certainly had to rack his brains. It’s not impossible that he will change the game plan without the presence of important figures like those who are absent.
Assistant coach Persis Solo, Rasiman assessed that the loss of several pillar players would not affect France’s overall performance. He considered that the two-time world champion was not a team that only relied on one or two players.
“Kante and Benzema are of course a big loss. But traditionally France produces good players at all levels. The majority of their players are in the big leagues like Spain, Italy and England,” he said.
“Consistent youth development produces good players like Nkunku who shines in Germany. So the loss of Benzema and other strikers, I think has little effect,” said the 47-year-old figure.
The coach from Banjarnegara considered that the performance of the players at his club was one of the reasons the player was called to the World Cup. So, he sees no reason for France to be in trouble without a series of pillar players at the 2018 World Cup.
Rasiman gave an example of Pogba, who no longer has a place in his previous team, Manchester United. The midfielder of Guinean descent has also not been involved in his new club, Juventus because he is still struggling with injuries.
“See, recent players like Pogba and Kante have not made the starting XI. Even in the English team, for example, they also missed Jadon Sancho, who played very little at Manchester United,” he explained.
“So the World Cup is about players who are ready now and France will not run out of stock at a grand event at the level of the World Cup,” added Rasiman.
The 2022 World Cup is like losing the headlines. The tournament, which took place in the middle of Europe’s top league competitions, plus a number of star players who were absent, made the prestige of the biggest tournament in the world seem to have dropped dramatically.
But Rasiman disagreed with this. According to him, the tournament is still very interesting to look forward to every four years.
“That happened at the previous show. There were big teams absent, big players absent. So it will never lower its prestige. This is the most awaited tournament in the universe. So the World Cup will not recede just because they are not present,” he said.
Lusail – The Argentina national team surprisingly lost 1-2 to Saudi Arabia in the opening match of Group C for the 2022 World Cup at the Lusail Iconic Stadium, Tuesday (22/11/2022) evening WIB.
Argentina coach, Lionel Scaloni , regretted the minor result. However, Scaloni also praised The Falcons’ performance.
“We respect Saudi Arabia like we respect any other team,” Scaloni said as quoted by Cronista.
However, Lionel Scaloni refused to give up. The 44-year-old coach wants La Albiceleste to win in the remaining two matches in Group C for the 2022 World Cup in order to maintain hope of qualifying for the last 16.
“They are a good team with technically and physically capable players, the Argentina National Team just has to look forward and win their remaining two games to advance to the next round in the 2022 World Cup ,” said Scaloni.
Meanwhile, the Argentine national team striker , Lautaro Martinez, felt that this defeat was very convincing. Moreover, Team Tango is very confident of getting full points in the opening match at the 2022 World Cup .
“It hurts a lot. We had high hopes to start the World Cup with a win. We lost because of our mistakes, especially in the second half,” Martinez told reporters after the game.
Just like the coach, the Inter Milan player refused to give up. He wants Argentina to wipe out the victory in the remaining two matches in Group C.
“There are details that make the difference and we have to correct mistakes. In the first half we should have scored more than one goal, but this is the World Cup and now we have two games left.”
Argentina still has not closed the opportunity to qualify for the next round. There are still two remaining matches that they have to face in Group C.
Lionel Messi and friends will face Mexico on November 26 2022. Four days later, Poland is waiting for the Argentina national team.
Argentina must win these two wins if they do not want to endure the embarrassment of falling in the group phase of the 2022 World Cup.
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