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The day after Cristiano Ronaldo’s World Cup farewell, Lionel Messi’s Argentina were pushed to the limit by a fearless Egypt side that came close to producing what would have been the biggest shock of the tournament so far.
In the first ever meeting between the two countries at a World Cup, it was the Egyptians who took the lead on 15 minutes, with Yasser Ibrahim heading home.
Argentina had a golden opportunity to draw level shortly after, but Egyptian goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir saved a Messi penalty, with the Argentine wasting his second spot-kick of the tournament. The star forward also struck the woodwork before the interval, but Lionel Scaloni’s men went into halftime behind.
Egypt looked even more threatening to start the second half, and Mostafa Ziko thought he had doubled their lead when he coolly finished off a counterattacking move. But the referee was called to the pitch-side monitor and ruled the goal out for a foul on Lisandro Martínez.
However, Ziko got his reward in the 67th minute, sweeping the ball past Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez to make it 2-0 to Egypt.
The prospect of the world champions exiting the competition was looking increasingly certain, but with 11 minutes remaining, Cristian Romero pulled a goal back for the Argentines.
Messi then equalised in the 83rd minute with a powerful shot from inside the box that deflected in off of the underside of the crossbar. That goal put him top in the race for the golden boot, on eight goals, one in front of France’s Kylian Mbappé and Norway’s Erling Haaland.
Argentina completed their dramatic comeback in the 92nd minute, when Enzo Fernández fired a header back across the keeper and into the bottom corner. It came just after Egypt had appealed for a penalty for a trip on Mohamed Salah.
Argentina will go on to face either Switzerland or Colombia in Kansas City in the quarterfinals, with a potential matchup against England or Norway in the semifinals on the cards.