Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has declared Wednesday public holiday in the country after the Saudi team trounced Argentina 2-1 at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
According to Arabnews, King Salman approved a suggestion made by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to celebrate the national team’s victory with a holiday.
All public and private sector employees and students at all educational stages are given a holiday.
Also read: Saudi Arabia stuns Argentina 2-1 for first major upset of Qatar World Cup
The Saudis celebrated beating the South Americans in the opening game of Group C as they stopped Lionel Messi and his teammates, ending a 36-game unbeaten run for the Argentines.
The Arabians had always lost badly against football powerhouses with the most demeaning being the 8-0 loss to Germany in the 2002 World Cup held in South Korea and Japan.In the historic win against Argentina, Saleh Alsheri scored the equalizer in the 48th minute before Salem Aldawseri scored the decider five minutes later.
Saudi Arabia will square against Lewandowski’s Poland side on Saturday.
Messi says ‘Argentina has no excuses’
Lionel Messi has admitted that Argentina has ‘no excuses’ after their 36-game unbeaten run came to an end following a 2-1 defeat to Saudi Arabia
After the game, a stunned Messi said that it’s a hard blow for everyone, as per Argentina’s official Twitter account.
The Paris Saint-Germain superstar said: ‘We knew that (Saudi) Arabia is a team with good players, that moves the ball well and that advances the line a lot. We work on it, but we speed up a bit.
‘There are no excuses. We are going to be more united than ever. This group is strong and they have shown it.
‘It is a situation that we did not have to go through in a long time. Now we have to show that this is a real group.
‘It’s a very hard blow for everyone, we didn’t expect to start like this. Things happen for a reason. We have to prepare for what’s coming, we have to win or win and it depends on us.
‘We have to go back to the base of who we are. We have to think about what’s to come.’
Saudi Arabia claimed their first victory at the World Cup since 1994, while ending Argentina’s 36-game unbeaten streak.
