World Cup 2026: Argentina survive another scare as Messi inspires late comeback against Egypt

Messi’s Argentina once again did the unthinkable as they survived another scare before staging a second-half comeback to break Egyptian hearts and reach the last eight of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The defending champions, who had needed extra time to progress to this stage in a fierce encounter against Cape Verde, looked set to head home against the Pharaohs of Egypt in Atlanta, who held a 2-0 advantage 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 – equalised five minutes later to set up a nail-biting finish.

Enzo Fernandez sent Argentina fans into wild jubilation as he completed the comeback two minutes into injury time, heading home Lautaro Martinez’s cross. The South American giants thus set up a quarter-final clash against Colombia or Switzerland.

Before the winner that sent Argentina through, Egypt felt they had been denied a legitimate penalty for a trip on Mohamed Salah, which infuriated many on their bench.

Egypt opened the scoring in the 15th minute, when Ibrahim outjumped Lisandro Martinez to nod Marwan Attia’s cross into the bottom corner.

Argentina – and tournament top scorer Messi – then had the opportunity to level the scores when Haissem Hassan tripped Nicolas Tagliafico inside the penalty area five minutes later.

However, Egypt goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir was equal to the task, saving to deny the 39-year-old, who had also had a penalty saved in a 2-0 victory over Austria in the group stage.

Shobeir again denied Alexis Mac Allister’s header from entering the net before delivering a superb one-handed stop to keep out Julian Alvarez’s goal-bound effort three minutes before the interval.

Zico then snatched Egypt’s second goal, after having an earlier one disallowed by the video assistant referee.

Up until that moment, Argentina had barely threatened, but everything changed in the 79th minute when Romero rose to head home, jolting Lionel Scaloni’s side back into the game. Messi then struck again, netting his 21st World Cup goal to set the stage for a chaotic finish to what had become a thrilling match.

It was Fernandez who had the last word, guiding in a precisely placed header that not only capped off one of the most remarkable comebacks in World Cup history but also happened to be the tournament’s 3,000th goal ever scored.