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For 79 minutes, the champions were dead.
Argentina trailed Egypt, 2-0, in Atlanta, Lionel Messi had a penalty saved and the Pharaohs counterattacked like a team with no interest in a moral victory. They simply had to hold on in the 2026 World Cup Round of 16 showdown and keep the defending champions at bay.
Then came three goals in 14 minutes, resulting in a 3-2 final and rescuing Argentina from the jaws of defeat, a place in the quarter-finals.
Here are my four takeaways from a game that took years off the lives of Argentinians:
1. Argentina can win ugly. That’s what champions do.
(Photo by Marcel Bonte/Socrates/Getty Images)
Let’s not sugarcoat it: Argentina has been suffering. Cape Verde needed 120 minutes and an own goal to survive. Against Egypt, they lost by two, were heavily favored in both games and were looking towards the exit. He also had a break: Mostafa Zico had an earlier goal disallowed when the VAR found a foul by Marawan Attia on Lisandro Martínez a length from the goal. Even the FOX broadcast squirmed at that.
But here’s the thing about serial winners: they don’t need to be brilliant, they need to be alive until the final whistle. Cristian Romero headed in a Messi cross. Messi tied. Enzo Fernández scored the winning goal with a cross from Lautaro Martínez, in a counterattack that began after Mohamed Salah was dispossessed on the edge of the Argentina area. From 2-0 down to 3-2 up in an instant. Pretty? No. The mark of a champion? Absolutely.
2. Messi missed a penalty. He then reminded everyone who he is.
The missed penalty should have been the story. Mostafa Shobeir dove to his right and blocked Messi’s penalty kick before the first hydration break – his second missed penalty of the tournament (the first player to miss two penalties in a single World Cup) after the miss against Austria. A 39-year-old man carrying a nation, again denied. You’d forgive him for cringing.
Instead, he sent in a cross that Romero converted and then arrived in the 83rd minute to score the equalizer himself: his eighth World Cup goal, now alone at the top of the Golden Boot race, ahead of Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland.
He has scored in every game that Argentina has played in this tournament. He broke the all-time World Cup assist record. The man rewrites the record books on the nights when everything works and on the nights when nothing works. That second guy might be more impressive.
3. The pharaohs leave with their heads held high and with new heroes.
What a trip this was for Egypt. Undefeated in a group that included Belgium, they beat Australia on penalties with a panenka from Mohamed Salah, and just minutes from eliminating the world champion. And they did it in the least expected way: with an aging Salah as facilitator and Omar Marmoush (no goals, no assists and benched on Tuesday after a miserable tournament) reduced to a late cameo.
In their place, unannounced names appeared. A Yasser Ibrahim header in the 15th minute surprised Atlanta. Haissem Hassan ran down the right flank on the counterattack, setting up Zico’s goal after a Salah burst. And Shobeir was magnificent: he saved the penalty and stopped Rodrigo De Paul, Alexis Mac Allister and Julián Álvarez. Egypt were brilliant on the counterattack. They simply ran into the defending champions. It happens.
4. Now, the uncomfortable question: What is happening to Argentina?
(Photo by Patrick Smith – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
Because something is wrong. The legs seemed heavy, understandable after 120 minutes in the Miami oven against Cape Verde, where Lionel Scaloni described his team as “defending like a cornered cat.” The defense is even more unstable. Four goals conceded in two knockout matches, Ibrahim rose unmarked and Argentina found themselves caught on the field in transition again and again. The disallowed goal against Egypt and Zico’s shot came in almost identical counterattacks. Good teams notice patterns like that. The Spanish level teams will make them pay.
And the problem of dependency persists: Messi has eight goals; No teammate has been consistently dangerous. Álvarez continues to flash without turning on. Romero and Fernández stepped forward on Tuesday: Argentina needs that on a weekly basis, not annually. Champions can win ugly. They can’t continue needing miracles.
