FORMER national women’s assistant coach Andrew Price says while he was shocked by Argentina’s 2-1 defeat to minnows Saudi Arabia in their Fifa World Cup Group C match in Qatar on Tuesday, the bombshell is an indication that the rest of the football world is now catching up with the top teams on the planet.

“This just shows that the gulf is closing between the minnows and the established teams in world football,” said Price. “Argentina, one of the fancied teams for this World Cup, came up against a very plucky Saudi Arabia team who showed that they wanted it more. And to comeback from one-nil down and win the game two-one, it was a monumental effort from them,” he said.

“But these things happen in football and I always tell people not to predict games because from 1982 when Brazil lost 3-2 to Italy at the World Cup, no one expected that result,” Price stated.

“I told people that you can’t predict games as the games have to be played on the day — and Argentina didn’t play the type of football that was deserving of a victory,” he said.

Goals by Saleh Alshehri and Salem Aldawsari in a five-minute span in the second half gave the Saudis their greatest win. Captain Lionel Messi rolled in a penalty to give Argentina a 10th-minute lead.

This also rivals shocking results such as Senegal beating then title-holder France 1-0 in the 2002 tournament opener, and the United States stunning England by the same score in 1950.

Price, who is the coach of Jamaica Premier League outfit Humble Lions, stated that Argentina must win their next two games in order to advance from the group stage of the tournament.

“They just didn’t do enough things right to get the victory and so they just have to try and win their next two games, because I still see them going through. I believe that this is just a one-game setback and so I think that what should be on the Argentinians’ minds right now is to get three points in their next game,” he reasoned.

Bradlley Sewart, a former national men’s assistant coach, like Price, was also surprised by Tuesday’s shocker.

“I was surprised because Saudi Arabia woudn’t have done anything major previously at the World Cup to beat a team like Argentina in the way that they did,” said Stewart.

“I think that the Argentines believed that the Saudis could not damage them based on the talents that they have. But whether or not you have talent you must turn up on the day, and Saudi Arabia did turn up and Argentina did not,” Stewart pointed out.

Meanwhile, in the group’s other game, Poland and Mexico played out a 0-0 draw.

The Argentines will face Mexico in their next encounter on Saturday while Saudi Arabia will go up against Poland on the same day.