Argentina vs Saudi Arabia: Argentina will begin their campaign against Saudi Arabia, the tournament’s second-lowest ranked team, on the third day of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar. Argentina’s star and captain, Lionel Messi, will be the centre of attention. Argentina is unbeaten in their last 36 games.
Messi will also have the opportunity to surpass his international goal total of 100 in this tournament. So far, he has scored 91 goals. Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal leads the list with 117 goals.
Messi trained alone on Friday and Saturday, casting doubt on his ability to play the full 90 minutes against Saudi Arabia. No matter how long Messi plays, all eyes will be on him. Going into this match against Saudi Arabia, he will have played in five World Cups, one more than Diego Maradona and Javier Mascherano.
Saudi Arabia may have easily qualified for the World Cup via Asian qualifying, but it has always struggled in this top-tier tournament. Despite making it to the World Cup five times, it only made to the last 16 once.
Argentina vs Saudi Arabia lineups
Argentina XI (4-2-3-1): E. Martinez; Molina, Romero, Otamendi, Tagliafico; De Paul, Paredes; Di Maria, Messi, Gomez; L. Martinez
Saudi Arabia XI (4-5-1): Mohammed Al Owais; Saud Abdulhamid, Hassan Tambakti, Ali Al Bulayhi, Yasir Al Shahrani; Feras Al Brikan, Salman Al Faraj, Abdulelah Al Malki, Mohammed Kanno, Salem Al Dawsari; Saleh Al Shehri
