The golden rule of football? Never write off Lionel Messi. Just when it looked like his dream of leading Argentina to the bicampeonato was in tatters, the 39-year-old came to his country’s rescue for the umpteenth time in spectacular fashion.
With 11 minutes to play and still reeling from Yasser Ibrahim’s early header and a second from Mostafa Ziko – named after the Brazil legend – Lionel Scaloni’s side were heading for the mother of all upsets against Egypt. Mostafa Shobeir – whose father, Ahmed, was the Pharaohs’ goalkeeper at the 1990 World Cup and whose time-wasting tactics against the Republic of Ireland resulted in the introduction of the back-pass rule two years later – seemed set to write a more positive chapter in his family’s history after a brilliant performance that saw him repel everything that the world champions could throw at him.
Messi had earlier become the first player in World Cup history to miss twice from the penalty spot in the same tournament but there was to be no denying him here. An assist for Cristian Romero gave Argentina a lifeline before he extended his World Cup record to 21 goals and eight at this tournament – one ahead of Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland – with the equaliser eight minutes from time. This was billed as a clash of the two No 10s and it was a cruel twist that Mohamed Salah was guilty of losing possession for the move that resulted in Chelsea’s Enzo Fernández heading home the winner from Lautaro Martínez’s cross. Egypt were incensed as they felt there had been a foul during the buildup but there was no way back.
Never before has a team left it so late to claw back a two-goal deficit at the World Cup. A tearful Messi, who is the first player to score in six successive knockout matches, was thrown in the air by his teammates after the final whistle. Luckily for them, they managed not to drop the icon who has carried his nation for so long. Scaloni, who had promised his team was “on alert” after their close shave against Cape Verde in the previous round, was so emotional that he couldn’t finish his post-match interview.
For Egypt, there was anger over the video assistant referee’s decision to disallow a second goal for a foul that occurred at the other end of the pitch more than 30 seconds before Ziko put the ball in the net. But having never won a World Cup finals match in three previous appearances, Hossam Hassan’s side showed they were not here just to make up the numbers and came within an inch of registering an epic shock.
They arrived in Atlanta with nothing to lose after the historic penalty shootout victory over Australia in the previous round and played with a freedom that unsettled Argentina right from the start. Leandro Paredes needed to be alert to clear a dangerous free-kick early on from Marwan Attia. But Argentina didn’t heed their warning. Mohamed Hany won a corner in the 15th minute and Attia’s cross was met by a bullet header from Ibrahim before he wheeled away almost in disbelief to spark wild celebrations on the Egyptian bench.
They were given another opportunity when Haissem Hassan brought down Nicolás Tagliafico inside the area and the French referee, François Letexier, pointed straight to the spot. Not for the first time, however, Messi could not make it count as his poorly struck effort was expertly saved by Shobeir. He may be one of the greatest players of all time but a 50% success rate from the spot at the World Cup is nothing to write home about.
Shobeir – who has only established himself as the first choice ahead of the veteran Mohamed El Shenawy in recent months after excelling for his club, Al Ahly – then pulled off a point-blank save from Alexis Mac Allister as Argentina’s frustrations mounted. A curling free-kick from Messi struck the outside of a post before Shobeir somehow kept out a close range effort from Julián Alvarez after he was picked out by Tagliafico. The Atlético Madrid striker looked gobsmacked. Incredibly, it was the first time Argentina had trailed at half-time of a World Cup match since the 4-0 humiliation by Germany in the 2010 quarter-finals.
Yet they showed little signs of improvement after the break. To Scaloni’s relief, the VAR disallowed a brilliant breakaway goal from Ziko at the start of the second half after a superb run down the left by Hassan and an inch-perfect ball from Salah. Replays showed that Attia had pulled Lisandro Martínez’s shirt almost 30 seconds earlier in the buildup. But Egypt could not be denied for long and Hassan left Nahuel Molina for dead before cutting the ball back for Ziko to dispatch past Emiliano Martínez.
Suddenly Argentina were staring directly down the barrel of defeat. Of course, it fell to Messi to save them and Romero made no mistake from his pinpoint cross to halve the deficit. The roar that greeted that goal was nothing compared to the equaliser four minutes later. Egypt did not clear their lines and when the ball dropped to Messi there was only ever going to be one result, even if Shobeir got two hands to his shot but could not keep it out. There was even more drama to come.
