Analysis: Where it all went wrong for Argentina against Saudi Arabia
After a sensational 2-1 loss, Lionel Messi (35) and co became the first of the favourites to stumble at the tournament as they ran into a very well-organised opponent.
When Argentina first learned that their opening game would be Saudi Arabia, few would have expected the underdogs to put on such an impressive defensive display. The team from the largest country on the Arabian Peninsula obviously prepared well for the championship and reaped the results in the very first game.
Hervé Renard's men presented themselves with a great team spirit, not only of the defensive line but of the entire team. No complex data is needed for numerical proof, the number of offsides for Argentina is clear.
The defensive line of the Saudis worked like clockwork and with great coordination, constantly exposing their opponents to offside positions. The Argentines had three goals ruled out for offside in the first 35 minutes and recorded 10 in total. Which is the most of any side since the VAR system was first introduced at the 2018 World Cup.
In addition, Copa América champions are not at all used to playing against such a well-drilled defensive team. During the last calendar year, opponents averaged 25.46 PPDA (passes per defensive action) against them, i.e. the number of passes an opponent completes on the first 60% of the pitch before a defensive tackle is successfully made.
In other words, the smaller the number, the more intense the attack. The Saudis scored 11.89 PPDA in this match - and it was even 7.7 between the 16th and 30th minutes. In addition, they won the ball 82 times, which is an excellent return. The last time anyone reached a better figure against Argentina was Morocco in March 2019.
Although Saudi Arabia didn't show much going forward and their two goals came somewhat against the run of play, the Saudis did a great job without the ball and - with a bit of luck - managed to beat one of the best teams in the world.
The deflated Argentines can at least be happy that Mexico drew with Poland, meaning that all is still to play for in the group.
