Major upsets from the first round of the World Cup

Those who appreciate the fact that football is still capable of producing surprise results would have been more than satisfied as the first round of the World Cup produced one of the biggest upsets in the history of the competition.

Argentina arrived in Qatar as one of the pre-tournament favourites, having gone 36 matches without defeat, beating Brazil in the final of the Copa América last year.

Their opening opponents Saudi Arabia were expected to be no match for them, and, when Lionel Messi gave them an early lead from the penalty spot, the result seemed a foregone conclusion. The South Americans had the ball during the first half, but the VAR didn’t help them, ruling three goals to be offside.

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Whatever the Saudi coach said to his side at halftime galvanised his players, as they came out after the break with a more aggressive attitude. Saleh Al Shehri pulled them level within 3 minutes of the restart, and then Salem Al Dawsari’s curled effort gave them the lead.

Argentina threw everything at them in search of an equaliser but Saudi defenders threw their bodies on the line to keep them at bay. By the time the final whistle was blown, Saudi Arabia had become the first non-European team to beat Argentina in the World Cup finals since Cameroon in 1990.

One upside for Argentina, though, is that the other group game between Mexico and Poland ended in a goalless draw, so their World Cup hopes are still alive.

There is an old adage that misery likes company, so Argentina would have cheered what happened to another former winner Germany in their game against Japan next day.

The Germans had much the better of the first half, and also took the lead in the first half, again from the penalty spot, and thought they had doubled their advantage both half-time, only for it to be ruled offside.

The pattern continued in the second half, but Japanese substitutes turned the game in their favour. Ritsu Doan had only been on the field four minutes when he was in the right place to fire home a cutback past Manuel Neuer.

Eight minutes after that, the German defence went missing, allowing Takuma Asano to run behind them and fire past Neuer from an acute angle.

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A desperate German side had no answer, and, by the end, they had slumped to the turf in disbelief, knowing that, in all probability, they need to beat Spain in their next match otherwise they will have failed to qualify from their group for a second successive World Cup.

It is worth mentioning one other game that nearly produced another upset. Belgium, the second-ranked team in the world, were expected to be too strong for a Canadian side who are making their first appearance in the World Cup in 36 years.

In the event, though Canada harassed the aging Belgian defenders, had they been able to finish their chances, would probably have won. They were left to regret Alphonso Davies’ penalty miss, especially when Michy Batshuayi scored the only goal of the game for the Belgians.