The KSA-Argentina group stage match was a David and Goliath story by all measures. The 2-time world cup champions and 3-time runners up were clashing with the second lowest ranked team in this year’s world cup.
At half time, the statistics pundits churned out bleak looking data stating that out of the 10 games in world cup competitions where one side did not offer a single shot at the goal in the first half, 3 instances are by KSA. My heart skipped a beat. They were already one up
What we witnessed in the second half was nothing short of spectacular. The grit displayed by all the Saudi players made the difference on the field. They were ready to barter their lives for a victory. They held the fortress strong in the face of a formidable attack from the Albiceleste, ingeniously deploying the offside trap. We also witnessed 2 of the most beautiful goals of the tournament.
Saudi Arabia made their indelible mark in world cup football history and would be an inspiration for all teams to aim for the highest position irrespective of your current ranking and how strong your opponent is. The emotional outpouring from the fans who witnessed the match live and the scores who had their eyes glued to the screen for the whole match showed what the victory meant.
Saudi Arabia is a country that breathes football. Being the most popular sport in the country and a with a huge fan base for the local teams, the domestic club matches attract a large audience. Kids get involved at an early age mastering the arts of dribbling and ball control while running.
Under the leadership of the Crown Prince- His royal highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, the Kingdom has developed its sports agenda to cater to the world. Focus is made on improving the infrastructure for sports related activities and promotes inclusion for all athletes.
Having a dark horse mentality makes you prepared for some of the most difficult challenges in life. When you realize that you have a lot of steps in the ladder to climb, you tune your mind to put in extra efforts. You would be competing against yourself to be a better version of oneself. You will be investing time and energy to build up the muscle power to propel yourself to victory.
Being longshots, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain and there is no way to go but up. The crowd mentality is also often skewed in favor of the weaker team unless you are an ardent supporter of the opposition. This builds an air of positive vibe from the gallery to cheer on the lesser favorites.
The Kingdom has declared a public holiday to let the nation take in the victory and to celebrate. Roads in all cities witnessed people from all walks of life showing their joy with the Saudi flag held high.
The Green falcons who are three-time Asian cup winners in the past cannot relax and needs to uphold the fighting mentality in the next phase of the tournament as well.
Dr Jemshith Ahmed
The writer is an Internal Medicine specialist, Vice President for Strategic Planning at Abeer Medical Group and general secretary of Saudi Indian healthcare Forum
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