atlanta8 July. Amidst the historic performance of superstar Lionel Messi, defending champion Argentina made a fighting comeback from 0-2 down here on Tuesday and defeated Egypt 3-2 with Enzo Fernandez’s goal in injury time to secure a place in the FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-finals.
At the Atlanta Stadium, Yasser Ibrahim and Mostafa Zico had brought Hossam Hassan’s team ‘Pharaohs’ closer to the biggest upset of the tournament, but goals from Christian Romero, Lionel Messi and Enzo Fernandez turned the game.
The defending champions were trailing 0-2 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium after goals from Yasser Ibrahim (15th minute) and Mostafa Zico (67th minute). But Argentina made a comeback in the match with goals from Christian Romero (79th minute) and Lionel Messi (83rd minute) within four minutes. After that, in the third minute of stoppage time, Enzo Fernandez put the final seal on Argentina’s victory.
Messi missed a penalty before half-time
Earlier, defending champion Argentina was trailing Egypt 0-1 at half time. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi missed the opportunity to level the match when goalkeeper Mustafa Shobar stopped his penalty. Messi also hit the goal post with a long-range free kick and Julian Alvarez thought he had brought Argentina back into the match just before the break, but Shobar blocked his effort.
Argentina trying to repeat Brazil’s history
If seen, Argentina is trying to become the first team to win the World Cup twice in a row after Brazil in 1958 and 1962. The three-time champion team also faced a tough fight from Cape Verde in the previous round and needed extra time to win 3-2.
Argentine team three wins away from second consecutive and fourth overall title
At present, Messi’s team is now just three wins away from its second consecutive and fourth overall title. Argentina is the seventh team to reach the quarter-finals. Before that, France, Morocco, Spain, Belgium, England and Norway have confirmed their place in the last-8 round. Now Argentina will face the winner of the round of 16 match between Switzerland and Colombia.
Messi repeated history
Talking about Messi, he repeated history as soon as he scored a goal in the match. In this sequence, he has become the second player in the history of Argentina to score eight goals in a single World Cup. By doing this he has equaled Guillermo Stabile. He succeeded Guillermo Stabile in scoring eight goals in the 1930 World Cup.
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