It was by a hair’s breadth against Cape Verde, with a 3-2 win for Argentina in the round of 8. On Tuesday, Mo Salah and Egypt were waiting for a shaken Messi and Argentine bunch of big stars. The nightmare continued for the reigning world champions, but this time too, Argentina escaped with the scare. A mixture of brilliant goalkeeping and cynical counter-attacks sent Egypt sensationally to a 2-0 lead, but three late goals from Argentina in the space of a quarter of an hour secured Argentina a 3-2 victory and advancement to the quarter-finals.
It was the meeting between Mohamed Salah and Lionel Messi that grabbed the headlines ahead of Tuesday’s meeting between Egypt and Argentina in Atlanta.The North Africans, as the last remaining team from their continent, faced the reigning world champions, who, unsurprisingly, went into the match as clear favourites. However, it was the Egyptians who got off to the best start.
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After a quarter of an hour, the experienced Yasser Ibrahim managed to knock Marwan Attia’s cross into the net, in a situation where Lisandro Martinez looked anything but solid. The same applied to Haissem Hassan, when he was guilty of a foul in the sixteen-meter box less than five minutes later. The Oviedo winger felled an attacking Nicolas Tagliafico in the box, and soon after, all eyes were on Lionel Messi, who was expected to convert the golden opportunity into an equalizer.
But that was not to happen, as a weak kick, combined with a good assessment from goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir, kept the goal away from goal. At halftime, Egypt thus led 0-1.
Not surprisingly, Argentina came out with a lot of pressure from the start of the second half, but the Egyptians persevered. It looked like the sensation was so close to materializing, when a venomous counter-attack ended up in the net at Mostafa Ziko’s foot after great work from Haissem Hassan.
But a VAR check on a free kick committed by Lisandro Martinez just down the Egyptians’ own corner flag nullified the goal at 2-0 despite protests from the Egyptians, who clearly thought it was a completely different phase of the game.
Nevertheless, Argentina continued to press down on the Egyptian goal, but with that pressure comes the danger of counter-attacks, and Egypt proved deadly once again.
Mohamed Salah, Haissem Hassan and Mostafa Ziko only needed a single opening at the back before the ball ended up at the feet of the latter, who knocked the ball into the net without any problems. This time the goal stood, and the 2-0 lead was a reality against the Argentines, who had a poor defensive day at work in Georgia.
Argentina then put a lot of pressure on the ball, and 10 minutes before the end it gave a 1-2 reduction that really breathed life into the game. Cristian Romero rose to the top and headed the ball into the net from Lionel Messi’s cross, which was allowed to stand despite offside appeals from the Egyptians.
Now there was a lot of pressure on Salah and co., and not surprisingly, the Argentines managed to turn up the pressure and show their class. Lionel Messi was the man who delivered the equaliser, when a great half-volley from the star inside the sixteen-yard box turned into a 2-2 goal, even though Shobeir had his fingers on the hard kick.
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All the momentum was now with Argentina’s, and although Egypt had fought hard, it eventually went Argentina’s way.
However, it was not without controversy, as when Argentina’s Enzo Fernandez headed the ball into the net, the Egyptians felt completely cheated of a penalty at the other end, where Alexis Mac Allister should have committed a penalty. This led to a torrent of cards on the players and the bench from Egypt, but the referee allowed the goal to stand, and the game ended with a wild 3-2 victory for Argentina, who are now through to the quarter-finals – without convincing.
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