- Full Time
- Ali Lajami on for Saud Abdulhamid90 + 3'
- Alaa Al Hejji on for Feras Al Brikan90 + 3'
- Abdullah Al Hamddan on for Moteb Al Harbi90 + 3'
- 90'R. Aguirre on for F. Viñas
- Nawaf Bu Washl on for Mohammed Abu Al Shamat81'
- 81'B. Rodríguez on for M. Araújo
- 80'M. Araújo
- 72'N. de la Cruz on for M. Ugarte
- Nasser Al Dawsari on for Musab Al Juwayr63'
- 46'A. Canobbio on for D. Núñez
- 46'J. Sanabria on for M. Viña
- Half Time
- Abdulelah Al Amri44'
- Abdulelah Al Amri41'
- Kick Off
-
1
Maxi Araújo1 - 2
Abdulelah Al Amri1
- 1Federico Viñas5
- 2Federico Valverde3
- 3Juan Manuel Sanabria3
- 1Saud Abdulhamid3
- 2Nasser Al Dawsari1
- 3Salem Al Dawsari1
- 1Maxi Araújo5
- 2Nicolás de la Cruz4
- 3Rodrigo Bentancur2
- 1Mathías Olivera99
- 2Sebastián Cáceres72
- 3Rodrigo Bentancur68
- 1Federico Valverde2
- 2Rodrigo Bentancur2
- 3Maxi Araújo1
- 1Guillermo Varela4
- 2Manuel Ugarte2
- 3Agustín Canobbio2
Although not quite the seismic shock of their win over Argentina four years ago, Saudi Arabia still upset the odds in their opening game of the 2026 World Cup by drawing with Uruguay.
Uruguay made a decent start. Maxi Araujo drew a save from Mohammed Al Owais with a fiercely struck shot from the edge of the box. That was one of only two real moments they had in the first-half, the other being a Federico Vinas diving header that was also palmed away by the Saudi goalkeeper.
From there, Saudi Arabia started to come into the game. Abdulelah Al Amri drew a fine stop from Fernando Muslera when he headed Musab Al Juwayr’s corner goalwords.
Just a few minutes later though, and the AFC side had the lead. Muslera was unable to hold onto a header from Hassan Al Tambakti and Al Amri was on hand bundle his side into the lead just before the break.
Unsurprisingly, Marcelo Bielsa made changes at half-time, removing Darwin Nunez who managed just eight touches in an anonymous 45 minutes. The changes took effect too, with la Celeste looking much more threatening from the start of the second half.
The chances started coming for Uruguay. Agustin Canobbio couldn’t guide his powerful header towards goal. Manuel Ugarte came within an inch of drawing his side level with a low, long-range effort that struck the woodwork.
Eventually, the equaliser came. Federico Vinas’ header was pushed away by Al Owais but only into the path of Maxi Araujo, who wrong-footed the Saudi Arabia goalkeeper to fire his side level.
Both teams had chances in the latter stages. Brian Rodriguez’s thunderbolt flew just wide of the right post, before Saud Abdulhamid’s attempt sailed over the bar.
Federico Valverde may have thought he’d won it in injury-time with his low effort. Yet again however, the brilliant Al Owais was in the way with his ninth save of the game.
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