LUSAIL, Qatar — Saudi Arabia’s defeat of Argentina at the World Cup on Tuesday was the sort of upset almost nobody in global soccer had seen coming, an outcome that ranks as one of the greatest shocks in the tournament’s 92-year history. Nobody was more surprised, though, than the Saudis themselves.
The country had won only one game at a World Cup since 1998. Unlike the World Cup’s traditional powers, it does not call on stars from the major leagues of Western Europe to join its squad. Its players are drawn instead from the country’s lightly regarded, but well-supported, domestic league.