Photo credit: Courtesy of Sports Vision
It was a game where Saudi Arabia played very well and Argentina actually didn't play well, both mentally and performance wise there were players who didn't play at their best and it's hard to imagine that this is the Argentina that hasn't lost in 36 games.
Saudi Arabia set up a high defense from the start of the game, bringing the four defenders forward to a position very close to the midfield line, which is equivalent to setting up a direct offside line in front of the Argentine forward line to be trapped in the offside trap, and then the midfield also set up a five-man team in the middle of the field to block Argentine passes, which is a clear tactic to set up, but Argentina was in a great hurry from the start, and they were either direct long passes to the side or mid-range passes straight into the middle to allow Lautaro Martinez and Messi to score directly. However, Argentina was very anxious from the beginning, they either made a long pass directly to the side, or a mid-range pass straight to the middle for Lautaro Martinez and Messi to score directly from the offside. Although these two were already close to the line several times, this kind of direct passes in the face of the offside line which was already set very high was tantamount to a hard collision with the Saudi Arabia defense, and in the end, the Saudi Arabia still used the offside trap to solve the whole crisis.
10 minutes into the first half, Saudi Arabia defender Abdulhamid pulled down Paredes during a corner kick defense, the referee awarded a 12-yard penalty by Messi, but Saudi Arabia did not rush to press out the attack, continue to defend against Argentina with a high defense, but Argentina was anxious to score additional points to determine the victory, so they have been playing a very direct attack, and then gradually see Argentina's weaknesses in the game, first of all, the two wing defenders have not been pressed, which directly caused the two wingers are very isolated, because the defenders do not go forward can not play Overlap (stacked tile). Gradually, we can see Argentina's weaknesses, first of all, the two wings of the guards have not been pressed, which directly caused the two wingers are very isolated, because the guards do not go up to the front if you can not play Overlap (stacked tiles) type of side attack, so it is constantly direct passes to go offside, Argentina's two wingbacks in fact, even the midfield can not be passed, because the Saudi Arabia in the entire midfield area to set up a full defense, but the wingers should be back to help the At this point, the wingers should have pulled back to help the defenders push forward, but DiMaria and PapuGomez, who was replaced later, did not pull back enough to work with the defenders and midfielders.
Then there are the two Argentine backs, Paredes could only be described as ordinary, DePaul was not good, his mobility and range of play was lower than expected, and he had a good chance to get back into the game, but his kick from the 18-yard box flew wide, and finally, in the second goal in Saudi Arabia, he was held up by Al-Dawsari before he scored a goal in the World Cup, DePaul had to replace LoCelso in the attack after LoCelso was injured and missed the World Cup. DePaul had to replace LoCelso in the offense after LoCelso missed the World Cup due to injury, but in this game he didn't press forward enough to let his teammates have a pivot point in the middle of the field to pass the ball and then share it out, so Messi had no chance to pass the ball backward or even across the field, and he could only continue to send the ball forward, and it felt that the two backs weren't in the same combination with the two wingbacks, so they didn't have much help in pushing the wingbacks forward. The two backs don't seem to be a combination with the two wingbacks, so they can help the wingbacks push the ball forward with very little movement.
At the end of the first half, Al-Faraj was injured and replaced by Al-Abed. At the beginning of the second half, Saudi Arabia started to play Argentina's counter-attack, and in the first goal of the 48th minute, Argentinean defender Romero was easily pulled out by Al-Shehri's charging attack, but Al-Shehri should have had a chance to block the shot by Argentinean keeper E. Martinez, but it was a good shot. Martinez actually should have had a chance to block it, but of course it was a good shot.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Sports Vision
The second goal for Saudi Arabia at the 53:00 mark was a big counterattack. Abdulhamid's cross from the right side was not blocked by Otamendi, which allowed Al-Abed to get a chance to shoot, but the ball was blocked and then it fell to the left side of the field to the feet of Al-Dawsari, who was facing the combined defense of Molina and DePaul on the left side of the penalty area. DiMaria was on the left side of the penalty area, but he suddenly turned around and it was obvious that Molina and DePaul were not ready, allowing Al-Dawsari to get a little bit of space, and he didn't expect him to kick the ball directly to the far corner of the super dead center of the field to score.
