Argentina are one of the favourites for the World Cup and in no small part due to the presence of Lionel Messi. It has taken the iconic number 10 just ten minutes to score.
Early on Messi had a chance to score after just three minutes. A loose ball broke to him and he forced a decent save low from Mohammed Al-Owais, although Messi might have been disappointed not to score.
Just five minutes later, Argentina had a penalty. A corner saw the Saudi Arabian defence bring down Cristian Romero in the box, pulling down the Tottenham defender.
Messi showed no sign of nerves with his spot kick.
MESSI SCORES HIS FIRST GOAL OF THE 2022 FIFA WORLD CUP 🎯 pic.twitter.com/Aew5QiCJTr
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) November 22, 2022
¡𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐎𝐋 𝐃𝐄 #𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐀�𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐀, 𝐋𝐎 𝐇𝐈𝐙𝐎 𝐋𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐋 𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈!👊🏼🤩🔥 pic.twitter.com/W19ivzMkC7
— Argentina Gol (@BocaJrsGolArg01) November 22, 2022
LIONEL MESSI HAS ARRIVED! 🇦🇷🙌
Argentina's number 10 gets his first goal of World Cup 2022 from the penalty spot inside 10 minutes!!#ITVFootball | #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/eUxnno9m7v
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) November 22, 2022
Argentina will be expected to pile on the goals against a Saudi side that are regarded by many as the weakest team in the group, before facing tougher tests against Mexico and Robert Lewandowski’s Poland. A better start they could not have wished for though.
Nice, one step towards Argentinas elimination.
Wonderful!