Nevertheless, the competition had utterly flipped inside eight minutes of the restart, inspiring a deafening noise from the 1000’s of travelling Saudi Arabian followers current contained in the Lusail Stadium.
Martinez was a part of a triple Argentina substitution simply earlier than the hour-mark, together with Julian Alvarez (Manchester Metropolis) and Enzo Fernandez (Benfica).
However Licha and his compatriots have been unable to search out an equaliser, regardless of spending virtually all the final half an hour, together with a sizeable quantity of stoppage time, camped within the Arabian half.
It is a huge blow for Messi and co, however two additional group video games stay, with Argentina’s subsequent problem approaching Saturday (26 November), after they meet Poland on the similar venue (19:00 GMT).
