The last world cup campaign of Lionel Messi’s glorious career will start against Saudi Arabia, the team who would potentially have a high number of supporters in Qatar thanks to the relatively short distance between the two countries.
Argentina are going to kick off this world cup in terrific form as they have been unbeaten across all competitions since 2019, a 36-match streak without a loss. Despite we might expect high-scoring matches from La Albiceleste, Saudi Arabia’s last 10 games have only seen nine goals to be scored at either end of the pitch.
Saudi Arabia is the third Asian team to start their 2022 campaign at the world cup, while two other Asian representatives marked a terrible start to the 2022 World Cup. Iran got thrashed by England in their first match in Group B a day after Qatar became the first world cup host nation to lose the opening match of the tournament.
Argentina and Saudi Arabia have never met at the World Cup before, but the South Americans have a record of two wins and two draws from their previous four head-to-head games against the Arabian Falcons.
The game kicks off at 10.00am in UK time at the Lusail Iconic Stadium, Lusail.
Argentina: Martínez, Molina, Romero, Otamendi, Tagliafico, De Paul, Paredes, Di María, Messi, Gómez Villaverde, Martínez
Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Al Tambakti, Al Bulayhi, Al Mohammadi Al Shahrani, Al Shehri, Kanno, Al Wahbi Al Malki, Al Dawsari, Al Faraj, Al Brikan
