Argentina have become the latest side to suffer a shock World Cup defeat – but how does it compare to some of the previous jaw-dropping losses?
Football fans watched in amazement as Lionel Messi’s side – one of the favourites to win this year’s tournament – were beaten 2-1 by Saudi Arabia on Tuesday morning.
It looked like it would be plain sailing for the South Americans when Messi scored a penalty to put his side 1-0 up.
But Saudi Arabia, who are 51st in the FIFA world rankings, fought back with goals from Saleh Al-Shehri and Salem Al-Dawsari to record a historic win.
Such is the extent of the excitement around today’s victory, that the country’s ruler King Salman has declared a national holiday across Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
Here Sky News looks at some of the other big shocks in the history of football’s most prestigious tournament.
Argentina 0 Cameroon 1 Italy 1990
It is not the first time that Argentina have suffered a shock defeat at a World Cup.
Back at Italia 90, they were beaten 1-0 by Cameroon, in what is regarded to be one of the biggest World Cup upsets.
Advertisement
Image: Cameroon celebrate after beating Argentina at Italia 90
Managed by Russian coach Valery Nepomnyashchy and led by 38-year-old striker Roger Milla, Cameroon faced a tough group with Argentina, Romania and the Soviet Union.
But they started in superb style, beating an Argentina side featuring Diego Maradona thanks to a second-half header from Francois Omam-Biyik.
Despite having two players sent off in the second half, Cameroon managed to hold on to secure a historic win.
They went on to beat Romania, before losing 4-0 to the Soviet Union to top the group.
They then beat Colombia in the second round, before losing in extra-time to England in the quarter-finals.
West Germany 1 Algeria 2 Spain 1982
Having won the European Championships in 1980, West Germany were one of the favourites going into the 1982 World Cup in Spain.
They were expected to win their opening game comfortably against Algeria, who had made the World Cup finals for the first time.
Image: Algeria’s Lakhdar Belloumi celebrates as his team stun West Germany in 1982. Pic: AP
West German coach Jupp Derwall tempted fate by saying that if his side didn’t beat Algeria “I’ll be on the next train home”.
He also said his players “would laugh their heads off if I showed them film of the Algerian team”.
Despite boasting a team packed with stars, West Germany were stunned 2-1 by the Algerians.
West Germany managed to bounce back quickly and battled through to the final, where they were beaten by tournament winners Italy.
North Korea 1 Italy 0 England 1966
While for England fans 1966 will evoke memories of World Cup victory, it is quite a different story for Italy.
That is because they were at the wrong end of one of the biggest World Cup upsets in history, losing 1-0 to North Korea at Ayresome Park in Middlesbrough.
Image: North Korea’s Pak Doo Ik, second right, scores the only goal of the game as they beat Italy at the 1966 World Cup
The warning signs should have been there for Italy, with North Korea beating Australia 9-2 on aggregate across a two-leg playoff to make it to the World Cup finals.
Italy, meanwhile, were a team struggling for form, having been eliminated early in 1954, failing to qualify in 1958 and again being knocked out early in 1962.
After beating Chile 2-0, and then losing to the Soviet Union 1-0, they struggled early against North Korea, who scored the only goal of the game late in the second-half through Pak Doo-ik.
South Korea 2 Italy 1 Korea/Japan 2002
Italy were also on the end of another World Cup shock in 2002, when they faced co-hosts South Korea.
Featuring superstars including goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, legendary defender Paolo Maldini and a front line with Alessandro Del Piero and Francesco Totti, many had Italy as one of the favourites for the tournament.
But they were beaten 2-1 by South Korea during a thrilling round of 16 tie.
Image: Italian players at the end of their infamous defeat to South Korea in 2002. Pic: AP
Christian Vieri gave Italy an early lead with a powerful header on 18 minutes.
But South Korea managed a late equaliser through Seol Ki Hyeon to push the game into extra-time.
With the game looking destined for penalties, Jung-Hwan Ahn scored a tap-in in the 117th minute to dump Italy out and send South Korea through.
France 0 Senegal 1 Korea/Japan 2002
The South Korea-Japan World Cup threw up a shock early on in the tournament when Senegal stunned defending champions France 1-0.
Image: Senegal shocked World Cup holders France in 2002
France featured a stellar squad, with the likes of Zinedine Zidane and Thierry Henry.
But an injury to Zidane early on appeared to disrupt France’s rhythm, while the then little-known but talented El Hadji Diouf took a starring role.
The forward, who would later move to Liverpool after impressing in the tournament, harassed the French defence throughout and forced a mistake which was capitalised on by the game’s only goalscorer, Papa Bouba Diop.
The tournament only got worse for France, who were dumped out at the group stage, while Senegal battled through to the quarter-final before suffering an extra-time defeat to Turkey.
England 0 USA 1 Brazil 1950
Later turned into a film named ‘The Miracle Match’ due to the size of the upset, England’s defeat to the USA is regarded as one of the most shocking in World Cup history.
England, making their debut in the tournament, were heavy favourites against a US team consisting mostly of part-time players, among them a high school teacher and a dishwasher.
The Three Lions were known as the ‘Kings of Football’ at the time, with an impressive post-war record of 23 wins, four losses and three draws, including a 10-0 win against Portugal.
Image: Joe Gaetjens was the hero for the US as they beat England at the 1950 World Cup
England’s star player Stanley Matthews was rested for the game, which US coach was so pessimistic about that he declared prior to the game: ‘We have no chance’.
But Haitian-born Joe Gaetjens scored the only goal in what would be a heroic 1-0 victory for the US.
The team was later profiled in a book named The Game of their Lives, which was later into a film of the same name – later named The Miracle Match.
Spain 0 Northern Ireland 1 Spain 1982
Northern Ireland were out to prove a point in 1982 when they qualified for the first World Cup in 14 years.
But their job was made all the more difficult when they were drawn with the hosts, Spain, as well as Yugoslavia and Honduras.
After draws with the latter sides, Northern Ireland faced down a talented Spain side.
An early second half goal from Watford striker Gerry Armstrong gave Northern Ireland a much-needed lead.
Image: Gerry Armstrong scores for Northern Ireland against World Cup host Spain in 1982. Pic: AP
But they had to dig after Mal Danoghy saw red on 60 minutes, battling with a man down for the final 30 minutes to secure their historic win.
Both sides qualified for the second knock-out round, where they were dumped out after finishing bottom of their respective groups.
A UN expert has said some young soldiers in the Israeli Defence Forces are being left “psychologically broken” after “confront[ing] the reality among the rubble” when serving in Gaza.
Francesca Albanese, the UN Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, was responding to a Sky News interview with an Israeli solider who described arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza.
She told The World with Yalda Hakim that “many” of the young people fighting in Gaza are “haunted by what they have seen, what they have done”.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Ms Albanese said. “This is not a war, this is an assault against civilians and this is producing a fracture in many of them.
“As that soldier’s testimony reveals, especially the youngest among the soldiers have been convinced this is a form of patriotism, of defending Israel and Israeli society against this opaque but very hard felt enemy, which is Hamas.
“But the thing is that they’ve come to confront the reality among the rubble of Gaza.”
Image: An Israeli soldier directs a tank near the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel. Pic: AP
Being in Gaza is “probably this is the first time the Israeli soldiers are awakening to this,” she added. “And they don’t make sense of this because their attachment to being part of the IDF, which is embedded in their national ideology, is too strong.
More on War In Gaza
Related Topics:
“This is why they are psychologically broken.”
Jonathan Conricus, a former IDF spokesman who is now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said he believes the Sky News interview with the former IDF solider “reflects one part of how ugly, difficult and horrible fighting in a densely populated, urban terrain is”.
“I think [the ex-soldier] is reflecting on how difficult it is to fight in such an area and what the challenges are on the battlefield,” he said.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
10:42
Ex-IDF spokesperson: ‘No distinction between military and civilians’
‘An economy of genocide’
Ms Albanese, one of dozens of independent UN-mandated experts, also said her most recent report for the human rights council has identified “an economy of genocide” in Israel.
The system, she told Hakim, is made up of more than 60 private sector companies “that have become enmeshed in the economy of occupation […] that have Israel displace the Palestinians and replace them with settlers, settlements and infrastructure Israel runs.”
Israel has rejected allegations of genocide in Gaza, citing its right to defend itself after Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:36
‘Israel has shifted towards economy of genocide’
The companies named in Ms Albanese’s report are in, but not limited to, the financial sector, big tech and the military industry.
“These companies can be held responsible for being directed linked to, or contributing, or causing human rights impacts,” she said. “We’re not talking of human rights violations, we are talking of crimes.”
“Some of the companies have engaged in good faith, others have not,” Ms Albanese said.
The companies she has named include American technology giant Palantir, which has issued a statement to Sky News.
It said it is “not true” that Palantir “is the (or a) developer of the ‘Gospel’ – the AI-assisted targeting software allegedly used by the IDF in Gaza, and that we are involved with the ‘Lavender’ database used by the IDF for targeting cross-referencing”.
“Both capabilities are independent of and pre-ate Palantir’s announced partnership with the Israeli Defence Ministry,” the statement added.
Israel’s prime minister has nominated Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Benjamin Netanyahu made the announcement at a White House dinner, and the US president appeared pleased by the gesture.
“He’s forging peace as we speak, and one country and one region after the other,” Mr Netanyahu said as he presented the US leader with a nominating letter.
Mr Trump took credit for brokering a ceasefire in Iran and Israel’s “12-day war” last month, announcing it on Truth Social, and the truce appears to be holding.
The president also claimed US strikes had obliterated Iran’s purported nuclear weapons programme and that it now wants to restart talks.
“We have scheduled Iran talks, and they want to,” Mr Trump told reporters. “They want to talk.”
Iran hasn’t confirmed the move, but its president told American broadcaster Tucker Carlson his country would be willing to resume cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
More from World
But Masoud Pezeshkian said full access to nuclear sites wasn’t yet possible as US strikes had damaged them “severely”.
Away from Iran, fighting continues in Gaza and Ukraine.
Mr Trump famously boasted before his second stint in the White House that he could end the Ukraine war in 24 hours.
Critics also claiming President Putin is ‘playing’ his US counterpart and has no intention of stopping the fighting.
However, President Trump could try to take credit for progress in Gaza if – as he’s suggested – an agreement on a 60-day ceasefire is able to get across the line this week.
Indirect negotiations with Hamas are taking place that could lead to the release of some of the remaining 50 Israeli hostages and see a surge in aid to Gaza.
America’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, is to travel to Qatar this week to try to seal the agreement.
Whether it could open a path to a complete end to the war remains uncertain, with the two sides criteria for peace still far apart.
President Netanyahu has said Hamas must surrender, disarm and leave Gaza – something it refuses to do.
Mr Netanyahu also told reporters on Monday that the US and Israel were working with other countries who would give Palestinians “a better future” – and indicated those in Gaza could move elsewhere.
“If people want to stay, they can stay, but if they want to leave, they should be able to leave,” he added.
An Israeli reservist who served three tours of duty in Gaza has told Sky News in a rare on-camera interview that his unit was often ordered to shoot anyone entering areas soldiers defined as no-go zones, regardless of whether they posed a threat, a practice he says left civilians dead where they fell.
“We have a territory that we are in, and the commands are: everyone that comes inside needs to die,” he said. “If they’re inside, they’re dangerous you need to kill them. No matter who it is,” he said.
Speaking anonymously, the soldier said troops killed civilians arbitrarily. He described the rules of engagement as unclear, with orders to open fire shifting constantly depending on the commander.
The soldier is a reservist in the Israel Defence Force’s 252nd Division. He was posted twice to the Netzarim corridor; a narrow strip of land cut through central Gaza early in the war, running from the sea to the Israeli border. It was designed to split the territory and allow Israeli forces to have greater control from inside the Strip.
He said that when his unit was stationed on the edge of a civilian area, soldiers slept in a house belonging to displaced Palestinians and marked an invisible boundary around it that defined a no-go zone for Gazans.
“In one of the houses that we had been in, we had the big territory. This was the closest to the citizens’ neighbourhood, with people inside. And there’s an imaginary line that they tell us all the Gazan people know it, and that they know they are not allowed to pass it,” he said. “But how can they know?”
People who crossed into this area were most often shot, he said.
More on War In Gaza
Related Topics:
“It was like pretty much everyone that comes into the territory, and it might be like a teenager riding his bicycle,” he said.
Image: The soldier is seen in Gaza. Photos are courtesy of the interviewed soldier, who requested anonymity
The soldier described a prevailing belief among troops that all Gazans were terrorists, even when they were clearly unarmed civilians. This perception, he said, was not challenged and was often endorsed by commanders.
“They don’t really talk to you about civilians that may come to your place. Like I was in the Netzarim road, and they say if someone comes here, it means that he knows he shouldn’t be there, and if he still comes, it means he’s a terrorist,” he said.
“This is what they tell you. But I don’t really think it’s true. It’s just poor people, civilians that don’t really have too many choices.”
He said the rules of engagement shifted constantly, leaving civilians at the mercy of commanders’ discretion.
“They might be shot, they might be captured,” he said. “It really depends on the day, the mood of the commander.”
He recalled an occasion of a man crossing the boundary and being shot. When another man came later to the body, he too was shot.
Later the soldiers decided to capture people who approached the body. Hours after that, the order changed again, shoot everyone on sight who crosses the “imaginary line”.
Image: The Israeli soldier during his on-camera interview with Sky News
At another time, his unit was positioned near the Shujaiya area of Gaza City. He described Palestinians scavenging scrap metal and solar panels from a building inside the so-called no-go zone.
“For sure, no terrorists there,” he said. “Every commander can choose for himself what he does. So it’s kind of like the Wild West. So, some commanders can really decide to do war crimes and bad things and don’t face the consequences of that.”
The soldier said many of his comrades believed there were no innocents in Gaza, citing the Hamas-led 7 October attack that killed around 1,200 people and saw 250 taken hostage. Dozens of hostages have since been freed or rescued by Israeli forces, while about 50 remain in captivity, including roughly 30 Israel believes are dead.
He recalled soldiers openly discussing the killings.
“They’d say: ‘Yeah, but these people didn’t do anything to prevent October 7, and they probably had fun when this was happening to us. So they deserve to die’.”
He added: “People don’t feel mercy for them.”
“I think a lot of them really felt like they were doing something good,” he said. “I think the core of it, that in their mind, these people aren’t innocent.”
Image: The IDF soldier during one of his three tours in Gaza
In Israel, it is rare for soldiers to publicly criticise the IDF, which is seen as a unifying institution and a rite of passage for Jewish Israelis. Military service shapes identity and social standing, and those who speak out risk being ostracised.
The soldier said he did not want to be identified because he feared being branded a traitor or shunned by his community.
Still, he felt compelled to speak out.
“I kind of feel like I took part in something bad, and I need to counter it with something good that I do, by speaking out, because I am very troubled about what I took and still am taking part of, as a soldier and citizen in this country,” he said
“I think the war is… a very bad thing that is happening to us, and to the Palestinians, and I think it needs to be over,” he said.
He added: “I think in Israeli community, it’s very hard to criticise itself and its army. A lot of people don’t understand what they are agreeing to. They think the war needs to happen, and we need to bring the hostages back, but they don’t understand the consequences.
“I think a lot of people, if they knew exactly what’s happening, it wouldn’t go down very well for them, and they wouldn’t agree with it. I hope that by speaking of it, it can change how things are being done.”
Image: The soldier is a reservist in the Israel Defence Force’s 252nd Division
We put the allegations of arbitrary killings in the Netzarim corridor to the Israeli military.
In a statement, the IDF said it “operates in strict accordance with its rules of engagement and international law, taking feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm”.
“The IDF operates against military targets and objectives, and does not target civilians or civilian objects,” the statement continued.
The Israeli military added that “reports and complaints regarding the violation of international law by the IDF are transferred to the relevant authorities responsible for examining exceptional incidents that occurred during the war”.
On the specific allegations raised by the soldier interviewed, the IDF said it could not address them directly because “the necessary details were not provided to address the case mentioned in the query. Should additional information be received, it will be thoroughly examined.”
The statement also mentioned the steps the military says it takes to minimise civilian casualties, including issuing evacuation warnings and advising people to temporarily leave areas of intense fighting.
“The areas designated for evacuation in the Gaza Strip are updated as needed. The IDF continuously informs the civilian population of any changes,” it said.