Saudi Arabia & France Win, Others Draw
[Written by Stephen Wright]
Argentina 1
[Messi 10 pen]
Saudi Arabia 2
[Al-Shehri 48, Al-Dawsari 53]
Saudi Arabia caused a major upset at the World Cup after coming from behind to beat Argentina, one of the tournament favourites, in the Group C opener in Lusail today.
Saudi Arabia, ranked 51st in the world, fell behind when Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot before Argentina had three goals ruled out for offside.
Saleh Al-Shehri levelled with a low left-footed strike before a superb effort from Salem Al-Dawsai earned Saudi Arabia a famous victory – only their fourth World Cup win.
Denmark 0
Tunisia 0
Tunisia earned a point against much-fancied Denmark in the opening Group D match.
Both teams had goals disallowed for offside. Demark were also denied a late penalty for handball when the referee checked the pitch-side monitor, only to stick with his original decision and award a goal-kick.
Mexico 0
Poland 0
Poland captain Robert Lewandowski missed a penalty as his team shared the spoils with Mexico in Group C.
One of the top forwards in the world, Lewandowski, who has never scored in a World Cup, was denied by Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa.
France 4
[Rabiot 27, Giroud 32, 71, Mbappe 68]
Australia 1
[Goodwin 9]
France started the defence of their World Cup crown with an emphatic victory over Australia in Group D.
Australia took a surprise lead when Craig Goodwin side-footed home before Adrien Rabiot headed an equaliser.
Olivier Giroud gave France the lead on the half-hour mark, and Kylian Mbappe made it three after the break.
Giroud equalled Thierry Henry’s all-time scoring record for France with his 51st goal for his country to cap off a convincing win for France.
Tomorrow’s games
Group E
Germany v Japan, 9 am
Spain v Costa Rica, 12 pm
Group F
Morocco v Croatia, 6 am
Belgium v Canada, 3 pm
