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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Jacob Leeks

Saudi Arabia players go wild in dressing room after causing Argentina upset

The Saudi Arabia squad went wild in their dressing room after causing one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history by beating Argentina.

The Green Falcons had won just three games in previous editions of the tournament, having first qualified in 1994. Argentina were the overwhelming favourites to claim the three points and went ahead through Lionel Messi 's early penalty.

But Lionel Scaloni's men failed to capitalise on their first-half dominance and their opponents came out fighting after the break. It took them just two minutes to get back on level terms, with Argentina failing to clear a long ball forward and Saleh Al-Shehri firing in.

Saudi Arabia players go wild in the dressing room (ITV)

Though Scaloni's side pushed for a second it did not come, with Saudi Arabia actually taking the lead. It came four minutes after their first, with Salem Al-Dawsari keeping the ball well before curling a brilliant strike into the top corner.

That goal stunned the Argentines and though they pressed for an equaliser, Saudi Arabia were able to hold on for a barely believable win. Following that success, they celebrated in understandable fashion, going wild in their dressing room.

An ITV camera was waved into the dressing room, with the squad surrounding a table as they danced and chanted. One player then jumped on the table and swung a bottle of water over his team-mates.

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The Saudi Arabia squad held a celebration in their dressing room after their win over Argentina (ITV)

Others then began throwing water around as the player on the table led them in a chant of "Ole, Ole, Ole". The Saudi players continued to jump around and hug each other as they celebrated their huge upset.

Saudi coach Herve Renard insisted that Argentina had underestimated his team ahead of the game. And he hailed his troops for completing achieving "completely crazy".

"When you are coming into a World Cup you need to believe in yourself. Everything can happen in football. Sometimes the opponent is not at their best motivation. This has happened to us when playing a lower-ranked team," Renard said.

"This is what other people don’t understand. Imagine Lionel Messi is playing versus Saudi Arabia. He will say they have to start well and win but you know the motivation is not like it would be playing Brazil. This is normal.

"We have made history for Saudi football and it will stay for ever, but we also need to look forward because we still have two very difficult games to play. Today all the stars in the sky were in a line for us but we can’t forget that Argentina are a fantastic team.

"They came here without losing in 36 games, they are South American champions and they have an amazing player, but this is football. Sometimes something completely crazy can happen.”

Saudi Arabia face Poland on Saturday in their second game in Group C, before their final match against Mexico next Wednesday. Those two teams drew their opening game, meaning that the Green Falcons are surprisingly in top spot in the group.

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