Saudi 2, Argentina 1.

The World Cup is upon us again, with Qatar as its first ever Middle-Eastern host nation. While much of the news was focused on the lack of beer and number of empty seats, the story now at the forefront is Saudi Arabia's miraculous win over Argentina.

Round 1 of the World Cup sees 32 teams split into 8 groups of 4. From each group 2 teams will move forward to the second round. This year, Argentina and Saudi Arabia found themselves in a group together, along with Mexico and Poland.

Favored by many to take the cup title, Argentina was expected to win their early matches with ease. However, in the Argentina v Saudi match, the Middle-Eastern team shocked the world with a 2-1 win. This was so surprising that Saudi Arabia's King declared a national holiday to honor the win.  

Upsets are common in sports, and particularly in the World Cup. However another factor at play in this instance is that Saudi Arabia had The Power of the Underdog. 

While Messi-led Argentina were already feeling the pressure to win the cup final, Saudi Arabia was not expected to make it past round one. While these low estimations might sound demotivating, underdogs love to defy odds and expectations.

In the article "The Upside of Being An Underdog," researchers found that it wasn't just the lack of pressure that benefits the underdogs, but also a greater drive to succeed in spite of expectations.

While we still can't imagine that Saudi Arabia will take home the World Cup title, it is a great reminder to not limit ourselves to what others expect of us and instead let others' doubts fuel our successes.

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