Shock victory reverberates far beyond the World Cup

As the Saudi Arabian squad came through the Lusail Stadium mixed zone these relative unknowns who had produced something reverberating around the planet they all had the same line to the waiting media. It’s just three points.”

- MIGUEL DELANEY

It’s been an attitude drilled into them by Herve Renard, and probably what is necessary to pull off a result like that. After the game, the accomplished coach told them to celebrate for 20 minutes and that’s all”. It is, however, so much more than one win or three points. It is one of the biggest sensations in World Cup history and maybe the greatest ever shock.

What would surpass it? Perhaps Argentina’s own defeat to Cameroon in 1990. Even that was in a very different football era, though, the gaps not as pronounced. It is why it can be said it had a similar feel to Algeria beating West Germany in 1982 but not quite the same dynamic. Maybe the closest in scale was Senegal defeating France in 2002.

This Argentina are not quite that French team, given the latter were defending world and European champions. But then this Saudi side did not have the European pedigree of that Senegal. The goalkeeper and fully deserved man of the match, Mohammed Al-Owais, is the substitute goalkeeper for his team Al Hilal. He is now responsible for one of the great World Cup moments, in his save from Nicolas Tagliafico.

It was, simply, an awesome moment. And that is something worth reflecting on when it comes to results like this. There’s only so far you can reduce it to maths. It is ultimately about something bigger, beyond quantifying, which is the emotion of it all. That was what the Lusail Stadium radiated. With tens of thousands of supporters from both countries, it was perhaps this World Cup’s first proper football occasion. It was about the people and the simple humanity of it all.