World Cup Review | Day 3 | Saudi Arabia stun Argentina while France get defence underway in comfortable fashion

A couple of Tuesday’s fixture went totally against the script with the first goalless draw also being played .

Day three of the World Cup has passed and it symbolized the fact that there is no such thing as an underdog on the greatest stage of them all.

Following Day two’s high-scoring action, we weren’t treated to the same in that regard but instead an incredible upset as well as a formidable performance from the World Champions.

The game of the day, however, was the opener between Argentina and Saudi Arabia.

Argentina 1 – 2 Saudi Arabia

With all of the pre-tournament hype surrounding Lionel Messi and Argentina’s chances of winning their third World Cup, this result would not have even crossed anyone’s mind.

Argentina fired out of the blocks as well, looking a threat early on and being awarded a penalty after just eight minutes. Lionel Messi stepped up and made no mistake and it seemed as if it was the first of many for Argentina.

The Copa America champions hit the back of the net another three times in the first-half, but all three were ruled out due to offside with Lautaro Martinez’s effort being the most questionable as it appeared the VAR system had mistakenly unidentified the Saudi left-back.

After the interval, the game turned on its head. Saleh Alshehri done well to create an angle for himself and a fine-placed effort into the bottom right corner levelled proceedings, an unlikely goal for Herve Renard’s men.

Five minutes later and the Saudis were ahead. A poor touch from Salem Aldawsari nearly cost him the ball but he did well to keep possession and beat two of the Argentinian defence and curled his shot towards the top-right corner, with Emi Martinez getting a touch on the ball but not enough to keep it out. 2-1.

The remaining thirty minutes saw some incredible defending from Saudi Arabia as they managed to hold on for a historic victory. It was a first defeat for Argentina in 36 games who will no doubt be a force to be reckoned with following the defeat.

Denmark 0 – 0 Tunisia

The drama of the previous fixture was followed up by a stalemate between Denmark and Tunisia, with no real highlights from the tie.

Both teams had chances to find a winner throughout but the biggest opportunity fell to Andreas Cornelius who missed a header from less than two yards away following an effort that had hit the post.

It was not the result Denmark were hoping for, nor expecting, but it proved that Tunisia have the quality to shut out the biggest nations at the tournament.

Mexico 0 – 0 Poland

In 2018, it took 38 matches to find the first 0-0 of the tournament, which was between the aforementioned Denmark and champions France. 2022 had two on the third day.

This game proved to have a bit more excitement however as Poland were handed a golden opportunity to take the lead with a penalty in the 55th minute.

The Barcelona striker, who certainly knows where the back of the net is stepped up and saw his effort saved by 2014 World Cup hero and veteran Guillermo Ochoa as he kept Mexico in the tie once again.

Both teams enjoyed a couple of chance in the closing stages but to no avail, as they both were forced to settle for a point in their opener.

France 4 – 1 Australia

Injury-ridden France began their title defence in a strong manner with a convincing 4-1 win over Australia.

Following the earlier win for Saudi Arabia, an early goal for Craig Goodwin was ringing alarm bells, as Australia took the lead against the run of play within ten minutes.

France continued to pepper the Australian goal and finally got off the mark through Juventus’ Adrien Rabiot, whose header got the better of Maty Ryan in goal to level the game after 26 minutes.

Five minutes later, it was two for France with Rabiot creating this time. He found his way into the box to square the ball back to Olivier Giroud who had an easy finish to double their lead, his 50th goal for Les Bleus.

France remained comfortable throughout and extended their lead to two through Kylian Mbappe who latched onto Ousmane Dembele’s pin-point cross to head off the post and give his team extra breathing space.

Olivier Giroud put the game to bed three minutes later after some fine work from Mbappe on the wing. The PSG forward stormed past the Australian defender to put the ball on a plate for Giroud, who scored their third header of the night and his 51st goal for France, levelling the record held by Thierry Henry.

Despite the early scare, France provided a strong performance to show the world exactly why they’re champions.