Nakul Shivani/ New Delhi

When Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic blew the final whistle with close to quarter of an hour of added time, a fairytale had been written in Qatar’s Lusial stadium.

In what is being touted as one of the biggest upsets in the history of FIFA world cup, Saudi Arabia defeated pre-tournament favourites, Argentina 2-1 in a Group C match on Tuesday.

At the end of the match, while the Arabs went into delirium, the men in blue and white stripes were shell-shocked. Both on and off the pitch very different emotions were played out.

Contrasting emotions

The Saudi team in green jumped in ecstasy, throwing themselves into each other’s arms, while Messi and company looked blankly sometimes at the lush green pitch, sometimes at each other.

Not in the wildest dreams did any football expert believe a team of no-hopers would be writing such a powerful script over 90 minutes. But, it is this unpredictability about the game that makes football such a beautiful sport.

Former India international Shabbir Ali, who has payed more than 100 matches for the country, calls this one of the biggest victories in the history of the game. "This is really a big victory. It reminds me of Senegal defeating Argentina in 1990. This is the biggest upset of this tournament and I don't think we will see any such upset over the next one month," he says.

Messi in disbelief after the match

Another former footballer, Majid Yousuf who currently mentors aspiring footballers in Jammu and Kashmir says,"This will stay forever. This is the first time an Arab country has beaten former world champions. It is definitey one of the greatest upsets in the history of the championship."

Later in the day, in the other group C match, Poland and Mexico played out a goalless draw. With these results, the 4-team group has completely opened up. Top two teams from each of the eight groups will qualify for the knock-out round of 16.

What the result has done is that it has made each team believe they are in with a fair chance of making it to the next round.

Both Saudi Arabia and Argentina will play Mexico and Poland in their next matches. Argentina will need to not just win their remaining two matches, but also hope other results in the group go in their favour.

After the defeats of Qatar and Iran in their opening matches, Saudi Arabia has given Asian countries a reason to rejoice. Shabbir Ali says, "This is good for Asia. Football is generally dominated by the European and South American countries. This win has given belief to Asian countries. What this result also means is that no one can take their opponent for granted."

Former India international Shabbir Ali believes the Saudi victory will give a belief to other Asian countries 

Here is a look at some of the other upsets in the history of the FIFA world cup.

1982: Algeria beat West Germany

Tournament debutants Algeria defeated European powerhouse and two-time champions West Germany 2-1. With this win they became the first African nation to defeat a European country in a world cup match.

Unfortunately, Algeria did not qualify for the next stage, after Germany and Austria allegedly fixed their last group match. After this match FIFA decided to hold all the final group matches simultaneously.

1990: Cameroon stun Argentina

Roger Milla led Cameroon to defeat defending champions Argentina 1-0. Even though Cameroon was a strong African team, they were not expected to get the better of Argentina that boasted of Diego Maradona in its ranks.

1998: Nigeria overcome Spain

Two quick goals by the Nigerian side in the late second-half stunned the Spaniards, as Nigeria beat Spain 3-2 in a group match. Even though Nigeria was playing its second world cup it was no less than a fairy tale for it to overcome Spain which has the likes of Raul in its lineup.

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2002: Senegal defeat France

France came into the 2002 world cup co-hosted by Japan and South Korea as defending champions and Euro 2000 champions. This world cup was supposed to establish the French as the greatest footballing nation in the history of the game. But the African nation played party spoiler piercing through France’s plans defeating them by a solitary goal.

*Fans in India can watch the ongoing FIFA world cup on Jio Cinema app for free and Sports18 channel.