The feat is immense. Just like the reward. According to the Arab News media, King Salman of Saudi Arabia declared a public holiday for this Wednesday following the victory of the national team against Argentina at the World Cup (2-1) on Tuesday. Tomorrow will therefore be a holiday for all employees and students in the country. King Salman was represented by his heir son and Saudi Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman in the official gallery alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
Hervé Renard, French coach of Saudi Arabia, underlined after the feat a “memorable victory”: “It will go down in history, and that is what is important. (…) I feel light. Congratulations to these fantastic players, I always congratulate them and I have been doing it for three years. The stars have aligned for us. We must not forget that Argentina remain a fantastic team, they were undefeated for 36 games. They are the defending Copa America champions. But that’s football, that’s how it is. Sometimes there is madness”.
This success is undoubtedly the most important in the history of the Saudi selection after that of 1994 against Belgium (1-0), also during the group stage.