The Saudi government has declared Wednesday as a public holiday for its people to enjoy this iconic moment in their sporting history.

The historic 2-1 win recorded by Saudi Arabia over Argentina at the ongoing World Cup in Qatar will be the talk of the town for a long time to come.

As the celebrations are expected to go deep into the night, the Saudi Arabia government has declared Wednesday as a public holiday for its people to enjoy this iconic moment in their sporting history.

The holiday is for all state employees, those in the private sector and students to enjoy themselves and to celebrate one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history.

Rightly labelled as underdogs going into the Group C clash against the Lionel Messi-led Argentina team, many were only waiting to see the margin of defeat Saudi Arabia will be condemned to this time having suffered a 5-0 bashing in their opening match at the last World Cup in Russia.

Having gone down 1-0 inside the first 10 minutes and only lucky to be saved by VAR afterwards, nobody saw a remarkable comeback from the Saudis who were ranked 50 places below Argentina on the FIFA rankings.

However, two well-taken goals in the space of seven minutes by Salem Al- Shehri and Salem Al-Dawsari ensured the Falcons soared to victory.

The public holiday will be for all state employees “and the private sector, and male and female students in all educational stages”, the government announced on Tuesday evening.

“We are so happy about the result. It was an exceptional match from our falcons,” said Ghassan Alwan, 42, marketing director at the Saudi ministry of housing. “Our faith in our players was in the right place. We wrote history tonight.”

“Incredible, massive, amazing, fantastic,” added Abdulrahman Abed, a sports editor. “Congratulations to everyone. This means a lot to every Saudi. This will give a huge boost to every Arabic team in the World Cup.”

As has been the case over the years, football has proven to be a great unifying factor in different societies over the years and Saudi Arabia is not any different.

“What an amazing win for the Saudi national team,” said Adel Al-Akeely, a Riyadh doctor as quoted by the Guardian. “There’s a lot that’s been changing in our country, many new achievements and an ambitious drive to become the best that we can be.

“Moments like this materialise these changes and remind you of how proud we are of our youth.”

While the victory against Argentina is an enormous boost, Saudi Arabia still needs to be at their best in their remaining group games against Poland and Mexico as they hope to make it to the knockout phase.

FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 – Group C – Mexico v Poland – Stadium 974, Doha, Qatar – November 22, 2022 Fourth Official Stephanie Frappart

France’s Stephanie Frappart became the first female official at a men’s World Cup match when she was named the fourth official for Tuesday’s Group C clash between Mexico and Poland at 974 Stadium.

Frappart, Salima Mukansanga of Rwanda and Yamashita Yoshimi of Japan have been named among the tournament’s referees along with three female assistant referees at the global showpiece event in Qatar.

Frappart was also the first woman to officiate a men’s Champions League game in 2020.

The 38-year-old has also officiated games in French Ligue 1 and the second-tier Europa League.

Morocco on Wednesday played a barren draw with last World Cup runners-up, Croatia breaking an apparent jinx that afflicted African teams in World Cup encounters with Croatia.

They became the first to escape being beaten as Croatia in 2014 had beaten Cameroon 4-0 and Nigeria 2-0 at the Russia 2018.

But all the same the 0-0 draw was the least that Croatia expected as their campaign to improve on 1998 and 2018 performances got off to a stuttering start.

There were very few chances at goal and thus Qatar 2022 recorded the third goalless draw in nine games  so far.

There were glimpses for both sides, with Nikola Vlasic going close for Croatia at the end of the first half while Noussair Mazraoui had a header saved for Morocco, but nobody could find the breakthrough as the mercury soared on an energy-sapping afternoon.

Croatia, who were beaten 4-2 by France in the final four years ago, will now turn their attentions to their game against Canada on Sunday, when Morocco will face Belgium. Canada and Belgium face off later on Wednesday.

Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic was far from downcast with how his side had performed, with his only criticism that they lacked bravery to take more of the fight to their opponents.

“We were very cautious not to make a mistake and were a bit indecisive,” he said. “I might say a bit of courage was missing on our side… but today Croatia had control and possession but not enough opportunities.”

Croatia’s best moments predictably hinged on Luka Modric, who was given the freedom of the park, floating effortlessly from back to front, with football’s traditional midfield roles seeming not to apply to Croatia’s captain.

One minute he was patrolling in front of his back four, the next hanging off the shoulder of Andrej Kramaric up front, but always looking to open up the North Africans, whether he was hovering at right back or hunting further forward.

FIFA president, Gianni Infantino as well as CAF President, Patrice Motsepe flanked African legendary footballer, Roger Milla as he was presented with a certificate of honour at the Al Janoub Stadium.

It was part of the pre kick-off ceremony of the Group G encounter of Cameroon and Switzerland.

Milla was a major attraction at the Italia ‘90 World Cup where he became the oldest player to have scored at the World Cup.

At 37, he left France but continued to play professionally for another seven years, eventually hanging up his boots for good in Indonesia at the age of 44, following stints in La Reunion and Cameroon.

Milla continued to be a veritable goal machine until the very end of his career. Last 20 May, on the eve of FIFA’s 118^th anniversary, he clocked 70.

Spain midfielder Gavi’s goal in his team’s 7-0 thrashing of Costa Rica on Wednesday made him the youngest World Cup scorer since Brazil great Pele in 1958.

Pele was 17 in Sweden when he led Brazil to their first World Cup title, scoring six goals.

Gavi, 18, also secured the game’s MVP award after becoming the youngest Spaniard to score at a World Cup, breaking the record of Cesc Fabregas who was 19 when he netted against Ukraine in the 2006 tournament.

“I’m happy for the accomplishments but what I really care is that we won and played a great game, let’s move forward,” Gavi told a news conference.

“Of course, it’s an honour to be second in this list and it’s something that makes me really happy.”

Gavi scored Spain’s fifth goal in the 74th minute with a sumptuous volley in off the post after a floating cross from Alvaro Morata.

Ferran Torres bagged a brace and strikes from four other players took Spain past the 100-goal mark in soccer’s showpiece tournament.

Barcelona’s Gavi became the youngest player to represent Spain in November, 2021, two months after his 17th birthday. A few months later, he became the youngest Spanish player to score a goal for his country.

Eight successive loss at the World Cup may not be what the Cameroon Indomitable Lions may have wished.

But the twist of event in their match with Switzerland left them with sour taste in the mouth. The scorer of the goal that further pushed the West/Central African country into negative World Cup record, is a Camerooninan by birth.

Breel Embolo is a Cameroon-born Swiss player. Born in 1997, he  received his Swiss citizenship in 2014 the year Cameroon last played at the World Cup before the current edition.

Embolo, ostensibly out of respect for his native country, Cameroon, did not celebrate the goal.

He was born on Valentine Day, 14 February 1997 in Yaounde, Cameroon.

His parents separated when he was young and when he was five or six years old, his mother moved to France to attend school.

 Whilst there she met her future husband, a Swiss national, then the following year the family moved to Base.

He received Swiss citizenship on 12 December 2014.