Argentina needed a comeback for the ages to keep Lionel Messi’s World Cup alive, hauling back a 2-0 deficit to beat Egypt 3-2 in Atlanta and book a quarter-final spot, in a match that swung on a missed penalty, two disallowed-goal controversies, and a goalkeeper who nearly stole the show entirely.
For long stretches, the story belonged to Egypt and to Mostafa Shobeir. The Al Ahly goalkeeper produced arguably the individual performance of the tournament so far, first denying Messi from the penalty spot in the first half, a tentative strike that Shobeir read easily to his left, marking Messi’s fourth missed non-shootout penalty in eight World Cup attempts and making him the first player to miss two spot-kicks in a single tournament after also failing against Austria in the group stage. Shobeir wasn’t finished. He parried Alexis Mac Allister’s point-blank header, then produced what may be one of the saves of the tournament to keep out Julian Alvarez’s effort toward the bottom corner.
Egypt, meanwhile, made their chances count. Yasser Ibrahim opened the scoring by powering home Marwan Attia’s deep cross, and Mostafa Ziko doubled the lead midway through the second half, finishing off a swift counter led by Mohamed Salah. In between, Egypt had a third goal ruled out entirely, Ziko’s dinked finish over Emi Martinez wiped off by a VAR review that flagged a foul on Lisandro Martinez well before the move reached the box, a decision that left Egypt’s bench furious and later saw a member of their coaching staff sent off following Argentina’s winner.
With Messi visibly deflated during the second-half drinks break and Argentina looking beaten, the turnaround arrived fast and late. Cristian Romero’s header, which Shobeir couldn’t quite keep out, started the fightback. Messi then had a hand in the next chance, setting up Lautaro Martinez for a header that drifted just wide, before getting his own moment seven minutes from time. Gonzalo Montiel squared the ball back to his captain, who struck a sweet half-volley that Shobeir got a touch to but couldn’t keep out, the ball cannoning in off the bar for Messi’s 21st World Cup goal, his ninth in as many consecutive World Cup appearances, and enough to reclaim the tournament’s Golden Boot lead with eight.
Two minutes into stoppage time, Enzo Fernandez completed the comeback with a bullet header from a Lautaro Martinez cross, sending Messi into tears of joy as he embraced his teammates at the final whistle.
It’s the second time this tournament Argentina has been pushed to the brink by African opposition, and Lionel Scaloni’s decision to freshen up a side that looked spent late in Friday’s 3-2 win over Cape Verde, bringing in Nicolas Tagliafico, Leandro Paredes and Julian Alvarez, did little to prevent another slow start. Whatever the underlying issue, Argentina now advance to face either Colombia or Switzerland in the quarter-finals on Saturday, with Messi’s World Cup, against the odds, still alive.
