Group C of the 2022 FIFA World Cup took place from 22 to 30 November 2022.[1] The group consisted of eventual champions Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Poland. The top two teams, Argentina and Poland, advanced to the round of 16. This marked the first time that Mexico did not advance past the first round since 1978.[2]
Teams
The teams were decided by the World Cup draw that took place on 1 April 2022.[3] The group was set to receive one team from each pot, which sorted all World Cup teams by position on the FIFA World Rankings.[3]
The teams had faced each other four times prior to the tournament, most recently in 2012, a 0–0 draw in a friendly.
Argentina took the lead in the 10th minute with a penalty from Lionel Messi, awarded for a foul on Leandro Paredes, which he rolled into the left corner. Argentina would have three further first-half goals ruled out for marginal offsides, once from Messi and twice from Lautaro Martínez. In the second half, Saudi Arabia would quickly find an equalizer, with Saleh Al-Shehri converting a low shot into the net's right corner in the 48th minute.[6] Saudi Arabia then took the lead five minutes later when Salem Al-Dawsari curled the ball into the right corner of the net from just inside the penalty area. Following nearly fourteen minutes of stoppage time caused by a delay in the match due to Saudi defender Yasser Al-Shahrani colliding with his own goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais, Saudi Arabia managed to see out the victory.[7]
Saudi Arabia's victory ended Argentina's 36-match unbeaten streak, dating back to 2019.[8] According to Gracenote, the win was the "most surprising" in World Cup history, with many calling it one of the biggest World Cup upsets of all time.[9] This was also the first World Cup since 1990 in which Argentina lost their opening match. Following their eventual victory in the final, Argentina became just the second side to win the tournament despite losing their first game; Spain did the same in 2010 after losing their opener against Switzerland.[10]
The teams had met eight times previously, including once in the World Cup, a 3–1 first group stage victory for Poland in 1978, and most recently in 2017, a 1–0 win for Mexico in a friendly.[12]
The only shot on target of the first half was from Mexico's Jorge Sánchez, which was punched away by goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny.[13] In the 54th minute, Poland captain Robert Lewandowski was awarded a penalty after the video assistant referee judged that Héctor Moreno had fouled him inside the penalty area.[14]Guillermo Ochoa saved the penalty taken by Lewandowski, diving to his left, and the game stayed goalless.[15][16] At the other end of the field, Mexico had a chance to win the game as a ball into the penalty area from Edson Álvarez went towards Henry Martín who attempted to head the ball beyond Szczęsny; however, the Poland goalkeeper managed to beat the ball away.
Poland failed to win their opening match in a World Cup for the eighth time, having won just one of their nine opening tournament games, though for the first time since 1986, they did not lose the opener.[17]
The teams had previously faced each other four times, most recently in 2006, a 2–1 win for Poland in a friendly match.[19]
Piotr Zieliński scored the opening goal for Poland in the 39th minute. At the end of the first half, Saleh Al-Shehri was fouled in the box and awarded a penalty kick. However, Salem Al-Dawsari's attempt would be saved by Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny. In the second half, an error by Abdulellah Al-Malki led to Robert Lewandowski scoring his first World Cup goal in the 82nd minute, as Poland would win the match 2–0.[20]
The result meant that Poland went unbeaten in their opening two World Cup games for the first time since 1986.[21]
After a goalless first half,[24]Lionel Messi put Argentina in the lead in the 64th minute with a shot from outside the penalty area.[25]Enzo Fernández made it 2–0 and secured the win in the 87th minute with a curled finish in the top right corner of the net.
Messi's assist for Fernández's goal made him the first player to record assists at five different World Cups.[26] The match's reported attendance of 88,966 was the highest for a World Cup fixture since the 94,194 spectators at the Rose Bowl for the 1994 final.[27]
Argentina were awarded a first-half penalty when Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny was adjudged to have made illegal contact with Lionel Messi while attempting to punch the ball away. However, Szczęsny would then keep out Messi's subsequent spot kick, saving a penalty for the second match in a row. Szczęsny would nevertheless concede for the first time in the tournament after Argentina scored twice in the second half; the first goal came from Alexis Mac Allister with a low shot to the left corner immediately following the restart, and the second from Julián Álvarez with a shot to the top right of the net, as the Argentines won 2–0 and topped the group with six points, reaching the knockout stage for the thirteenth time in their last fourteen World Cup appearances.[29]
Szczęsny became just the third goalkeeper to save multiple penalties at a single World Cup (excluding shoot-outs), following compatriot Jan Tomaszewski in 1974 and Brad Friedel in 2002. Despite defeat, Poland would still join Argentina in the last 16 thanks to a superior goal difference to Mexico, ending their 36-year knockout stage drought.[30][31]
The teams had met five previous times, most recently in 1999, a 5–1 win for Mexico at the FIFA Confederations Cup.[33]
After a goalless first half, Mexico struck twice in the second half, first with a volley from a corner by Henry Martín in the 47th minute, and then with a thunderous free kick by Luis Chávez in the 52nd minute. However, Mexico failed to find a third goal, which they needed to overtake Poland on goal difference; Mexico had received more yellow cards than Poland and would have been eliminated on this basis if the teams finished level on points, goal difference, and goals scored. Salem Al-Dawsari, however, would score for Saudi Arabia in the fifth minute of added time with a goal after a one-two, confirming both teams' elimination as Mexico claimed the 2–1 win.[34]
This was the first time Mexico failed to advance to the knockout stage at a FIFA World Cup since 1978; meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's knockout stage drought extended to 32 years, having failed to progress past the group stage since the country's tournament debut in 1994, standing as the second longest knockout stage drought after that of North Korea.
Fair play points would have been used as tiebreakers if the overall and head-to-head records of teams were tied. These were calculated based on yellow and red cards received in all group matches as follows:[2]
first yellow card: −1 point;
indirect red card (second yellow card): −3 points;
direct red card: −4 points;
yellow card and direct red card: −5 points;
Only one of the above deductions was applied to a player in a single match.
