On November 22, an Aussie bettor lost a huge amount of money after naively believing that there is no chance Saudi Arabia can beat Argentina.
Saudi Arabia’s Win Against Argentina – the Biggest Surprise of the 2022 World Cup
Daily Mail reported that a punter from Australia lost the whopping amount of AUD 160,000 ($106,442) after placing a bet that Argentina will win against Saudi Arabia in their match that took place on November 22.
However, the FIFA World Cup is always a tournament filled with surprises, and this year’s edition is no different.
Argentina, a team with soccer superstar Lionel Messi in its ranks that was a clear favorite to win the coveted cup, was defeated by Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
Argentina started strong in the first half with a goal by Messi in the 10th minute, however, things quickly turned around in the second half. In the first minutes after halftime, Al Shehri scored bringing the result to 1-1.
Not more than five minutes later, Al Dawsari made an impressive top-corner goal and Saudi Arabia took the lead. To the disbelief of all Argentina fans, a country where soccer has a holy status, Messi and his team could not break Saudi Arabia’s defence and eventually lost the match.
This unpleasant surprise can only be compared to the shocking defeat the Argentina team suffered during the 1990 World Cup when it lost to Cameroon. Back then the country’s national team had another Argentinian soccer legend on it – Diego Maradona.
The defeat is not good news for Messi who was hoping to finally get the elusive trophy. With seven World Cup goals in his career, he has not yet been able to lead his team to win the tournament.
Bettors Lose Money After Being Too Confident in Argentina’s Win
The unnamed Australian gambler placed his major bet with TAB at odds of $1.13. In case of an Argentina win, he would have collected a total of AUD 180,800 ($120,352). This would have given a modest win of AUD 20,000 ($13,313). This goes to show that he probably thought he was placing a very safe bet.
Another bettor was even more self-assured. He placed a bet of AUD 100,000 ($66,676) on Argentina winning with a margin of over 2.5 goals. If he had got it right, he would have collected AUD 170,000 ($113,272), which would have meant winnings of AUD 70,000 ($46,641). However, he, too, must have gotten a very unpleasant surprise watching the match unfold.