Argentina survived another almighty scare before delivering a scarcely believable second-half comeback to break Egypt hearts and reach the quarter-finals of the 2026 World Cup.
The reigning world champions—sent to extra time by Cape Verde in the last round—had looked set for a shock exit against the Pharaohs, who led 2-0 thanks to goals from Yasser Ibrahim and Mostafa Zico.
But Cristian Romero halved the deficit 11 minutes from time before Lionel Messi—who had missed a first-half penalty in Atlanta—equalized five minutes later and set up a nail-biting finish.
Enzo Fernández completed the comeback two minutes into injury time, heading home Lautaro Martínez’s cross to set up a quarter-final tie against Colombia or Switzerland. The winner came on the counterattack just moments after Egypt felt they had been denied a penalty for a trip on Mohamed Salah, to the fury of many on their bench.
It was impossible not to feel for Egypt, who had not won a World Cup match before this tournament but were minutes away from eliminating the three-time winners in Atlanta.
Victors over Australia in the round of 32, the Pharaohs sent their fans into ecstasy on 15 minutes when Ibrahim outjumped Lisandro Martinez to nod Marwan Attia’s cross into the bottom corner.
But Argentina—and tournament top scorer Messi—was given a golden opportunity to restore parity when Haissem Hassan tripped Nicolas Tagliafico inside the penalty area five minutes later.
Egypt goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir, however, produced a magnificent save to deny the 39-year-old, who also had a penalty saved in a 2-0 victory over Austria in the group stage.
Shobeir was outstanding in the first half, saving well from Alexis Mac Allister’s header before delivering a superb one-handed stop from Julian Alvarez’s goal-bound effort three minutes before the interval.
Zico had a goal disallowed by the video assistant referee shortly before the hour mark, but the 29-year-old stroked home Hassan’s delivery midway through the second period to leave Egypt on the brink of an unlikely quarter-final spot.
Argentina had created precious little up to that point, but Romero’s 79th-minute header sparked Lionel Scaloni’s team into life before Messi slammed home his 21st World Cup goal to set up a frantic conclusion to a pulsating contest.
Fernandez had the final say, his perfectly placed header completing one of the great World Cup recoveries with the 3,000th goal in tournament history
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