Argentina's Lionel Messi (10) reacts at the end of the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Argentina and Egypt in Atlanta, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)Argentina vs Egypt, FIFA World Cup 2026 Highlights: Lionel Messi orchestrated a stunning comeback from Argentina as they beat Egypt 2-0 to qualify for the quarterfinals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup despite trailing 2-0 in the 70th minute of the match in Atlanta. Messi provided Argentina’s first goal, which Cristian Romero headed in, after which the Argentina captain himself scored the equaliser. Enzo Fernandez then turned in the winner in stoppage time.
Earlier, Yasser Ibrahim headed Egypt ahead in the 15th minute against defending champions Argentina in the 2026 FIFA World Cup round of 16 match between the two sides and the score remained 1-0 in the African side’s favour at half time in Atlanta. Argentina pushed for the equaliser but Egypt kept their lead intact, largely thanks to a heroic performance from their goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir.
Shobeir’s heroics included saving a penalty off Argentina’s talismanic captain Lionel Messi right after Egypt took the lead. Messi has been breaking records at will at this World Cup and ended up breaking an unwanted one on that instance. He became the first to miss two penalties at the same World Cup, not including penalty shootouts.
FOLLOW ARG vs EGY RO16 MATCH HIGHLIGHTS BELOW
Argentina will now face the winner of the last round of 16 match of this World Cup between Colombia and Switzerland. That will be at 1.30am IST tomorrow, which translates to just under two hours from now. That's it from us today, we all need some cold water on our heads after that humdinger. Thanks for joining us. Good night!
A bit of a scuffle towards the end there between Lautaro Martinez and and Attia. That is almost the last act of a truly epic game. The referee blows the whistle. Argentina are through to the quarterfinals despite trailing 2-0 in the 70th minute of this match. Tears of joy for Messi, of sorrow for Salah. Messi wasn't having the best of days for much of this game and yet, he provided the assist for the first goal that Romero scored and then smashed in the second himself. Egypt were fuming after Enzo Fernandez scored the third as they thought that there was a foul by Mac Allister on Fathy in the Argentine box at the start of the turnover. The brilliant Shobeir, immense for much of this match and particularly in the first half, was also shown a yellow card in that scuffle.
One has to feel for the Egyptians. Their journey has meant a lot to not just Egyptians, and many more countries around the world. Mohamed Salah said goodbye to Liverpool a couple of months ago, thus ending a glorious chapter in his a career. Wonder if he will decide to end this chapter as well with his beloved Pharaohs. Messi, so calm and collected after most victories, can't stop crying today. He has won everything that can possibly be won in this sport, and yet here he is, crying tears of joy after winning a round of 16 match in the World Cup. Football, eh?
90+9 mins: Not much happening off the field because the referee is having to stop the game due to the Egyptian bench pouring on to the field and hounding the fourth official. Their head coach Hossam Hassan has got a yellow card and the ref has a long conversation with him. One has to feel for the Egyptians. They were almost there and then three goals in quick time has wiped off the dream.
And one can't really blame them. It takes a long time for the game to restart after that goal and that is because the Egyptian bench are piling on top of the referee. He has shown the red card to a member of the Pharaoh's coaching staff.
Is that the goal? Have Argentina completed one of the most memorable comebacks in the history of World Cup knockout games. Cross from the fight by Lautaro Martinez after Argentina break. Egypt have been trying to get more of an initiative in attack in the last couple of mins with about 7 mins of stoppage time added to the 90. But they lose it, Martinez gets it. Puts in the cross and Enzo heads it in.
There is no VAR check. Argentina have come from 0-2 down to take the lead. Extraordinary scenes in Atlanta.
88th min: Well Egypt have rarely got out of their half throughout this match. But for most of it, they had the cushion of a one or two-goal cushion. Now, they have nothing and they need to score to avoid extra time. But for now, they aren't able to find a way out.
OH MESSI SAVES ARGENTINA AGAIN! He started this move as well. Crosses it in from the right, Martinez tries a volley from the left, it comes to Alvarez who plays it to Messi. The 8-time Ballon d'Or winner absolutely lasers the ball into the back of the net. Cue the madcap celebrations from him and Argentina this time. He has done it all, even won a World Cup, and he celebrates like this was the first goal of his career.
Cross from Messi and Romero turns it in! Shobeir got a glove to it but can't keep it out. Egypt's lead halved. It was a lovely curled ball over the top by Messi from the right in front of the box. Romero was somewhat unmarked. GAME ON!
Changes for both sides in the 2nd half hydration break. The brilliant Haissem Hassan has been taken off, surprisingly for Trezeguet. For Argentina, Nahuel Molina comes on for Gonzalo Montiel.
Once again, Hassan and Salah the architects of the goal and Zico the scorer. This time, it won't be scratched off. Argentina in deep, deep trouble. An Argentine corner comes to nothing, Salah runs off with the ball, he patiently waits for support and gets it in the form of Hassan, who Argentina just can't handle at the moment. He races past Molina to the byline, cuts it in and Zico smashes the ball past the hapless Dibu Martinez.
No VAR this time. There was no foulplay anywhere. Egypt 2-0 ahead fair and square. The sky blues looking quite blue indeed.
Scratch that! Cancel all the celebrations. Zico gets a yellow card for taking off his shirt. Everything goes all the way back to that point where Martinez lost the ball. Messi takes the free kick and it comes to nothing.
OH HANG THAT IN THE LOUVRE! An unbelievable break led by Haissem Hassan, cutting and weaving down the right hand flank, even putting it through the feet of an Argentine player. He passes it to Salah on the centre, who plays it through to Zico who sends it past Emi Martinez. Zico takes his shirt off. Egypt don't know what to do with themselves. They are 2-0 up!
But wait a minute, WAIT A MINUTE. THERE IS A VAR CHECK! For how Lisandro Martinez was dispossessed before Hassan went on his winding run.
52nd min: It is all Argentina, Egypt defending in numbers. And then Salah suddenly nicks the ball off and starts to go on a run. There is only one Argentine player behind and the goalkeeper, Salah can beat them both any day of the week but the referee blows the whislte to give Argentina the free kick! Replays show that it was a very generous foul indeed. Messi takes it, tries to put it in the sapce between the line of players and the goalkeeper but Shobeir comes out to collect.
All right, Egypt get us going for the second half. Surely they are going to try to get on the attack a little more than they did after scoring in the first half because Argentina were really hounding them towards the end of it.
That scoreline. Read it again. It's not a typo, it's real. Argentina, defending champions, and three-time winners, trail Egypt, playing in the World Cup for just the fourth time, 1-0 at half time. Argentina were curiously flat before conceding and they were almost as desperate to score after going behind. But Egypt, largely thanks to the immense Shobeir, have kept their lead intact.
https://platform.x.com/widgets.jsOufa is out of this world 🛸🧤#egyptnt#fifaworldcup pic.twitter.com/hmnOvRWPlS
— Egypt National Team (@EgyptNT_EN) July 7, 2026
44th min: Messi simply hasn't had a good time of it in this half. He gets the ball on the left and blasts it into the stands. Then Alvarez rather erroniously lets a ball from right run through for Messi but there were about three Egyptian defenders in the space between the two sides.
41 mins: De Paul releases Tagliafico who enters the box on the left hand side and squares it to Alvarez first time. The Atletico forward takes the shot and Shobeir incredibly, unbelievably, saves it from a point-blank range diving to his left. Incredible stuff from the Egyptian goalkeeper. He seems a little winded after that, takes some time to get back on his feet. Messi takes the resulting corner which comes to nothing.
30th min: Argentina putting Egypt in all kinds of pressure since the end of that hydration break, the ball has been hovering in and around the latters' penalty box throughout the last five minutes. Attia brings down Mac Allister and Argentina win a free kick. It is not very close to goal but still a goalscoring position for a good free kick taker, which is what Messi is. It was around 25 yards away from goal in a central position, Messi goes for it and it comes off the post! The referee intially awarded a corner thinking Shobeir had got a hand to it, VAR overturns that and it is a goalkick.
25th min: Well, as brilliant as Messi has been in World Cup football over the last edition of the tournament and this one, he hasn't had a great time of it with penalties. We were taking about him breaking records, he has got another one here but he won't be too happy with. He is the first to have missed two penalties in the same World Cup. Not counting those taken in shootouts of course.
Shobeir, meanwhile, has done this before. He saved a ridiculously high pressure penalty against Mehdi Taremi in Egypt's roller coaster group game against Iran.
21 mins: Well, he had missed a penalty in the group stage as well against Austria, he misses again. Messi never looked at the goalkeeper, and the latter did well to not go early either. The Argentina No.10 went for a low show to the goalkeeper's left, Shobeir went the right way and Egypt's 1-0 lead remains intact. An entire tournament's worth of action has been squeezed into the last five minutes.
19 mins: Tagliafico played in behind and Hassan brings him down inside the box. The referee points to the spot straightaway. No doubts in his mind whatsoever. And it seems VAR has no issues with it either. You know who is going to take it. He wears No.10 and his surname starts with an M.
Yasser Ibrahim scores and cue wild celebrations from the Egyptians! Good pressure by Hany on Lisandro Martinez on the right and Egypt win a corner. Taken short and Attia flings a cross in, Ibrahim leaves L Martinez behind and puts it in with a beauty of a header past Emi Martinez.
9th min: Enzo Fernandez with a pass down the inside-right and it seems to have released Messi. The Argentina captain enters the box but Rabia manages to stave him off. De Paul then gets to the edge of the six-yard box on the right, squares it for Fernandez who blooters the ball into the sky. The flag goes off for off side, much to the Chelsea man's relief.
First free kick of the match goes Egypt's way. Haissem Hassan goes down quite dramatically to a challenge from Tagliafico, referee a little generous with awarding that foul. Salah takes the free kick, direct challenge at goal not a viable option as it was too close to the touch line on the left. It comes to nothing.
Argentina are playing a 4-4-2, with Messi and Alvarez the two forward-most players. It seems to be a flat 4-4-2 for Egypt as well, Salah and Zico at the helm.
All right, enough talk, we have some football to play now. Argentina start things off and well early worry for them as Enzo Fernandez seems to be hurt in the 2nd minute itself.
You have to see it to believe it. The Argentinian national anthem came first, sung at the top of their voices by the players, coaching staff and the fans. Then came Egypt's national anthem, sung with the same gusto by their faithful.
All right, here they are. Salah and Messi leading out their respective teams in Atlanta. Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez sporting the sky blue and white of Argentina on the side of his head, as he did in the game against Cape Verde.
If you pull it off, you become an icon for nonchalance. If you don't you end up looking like someone who has never learnt how to touch a football. The chipped penalty, popularly called the Panenka after the player who made it famous at the Euro 1976 final, is the pretty mucbh ultimate flex and risk that a player can take on a football field, particularly when the scoreline remains close or if it is a pentalty shootout. Nihal Koshie wrote about the phenomenon after Salah did it against Australia and you can savour it HERE.
Mohamed Salah has put in a colossal effort for Egypt at this World Cup. He may have not been at his absolute best but do remember that the 34-year-old has been managing a hamstring injury. He managed to play the full 120 minutes against Australia in spite of that, finishing it all off with the cheekiest of cheeky penalties during a high-intensity World Cup shootout.
He has created 16 chances at this World Cup and will match the record for an African player set by Kevin-Prince Boateng (18) for Ghana in 2010 if he creates two here.
It seems he is breaking records every time he turns his head while walking that famous walk of his on a football field. So what's it going to be today? Well, Messi has seven goals thus far in this World Cup. If he scores one more, he will become the first Argentine since Guillermo Stabile in 1930 to score eight goals in a single World Cup. He will become only the sixth player to score in their country’s first five games at a World Cup, joining Just Fontaine for France in 1958, Jairzinho for Brazil in 1970, Gerd Müller for Germany in 1970, Rivaldo for Brazil in 2002, and James Rodríguez for Colombia in 2014.
Argentina: They've made three changes to the side that beat Cabo Verde 3-2. Nicolás Tagliafico, Rodrigo De Paul and Leandro Paredes come in for Facundo Medina, Thiago Almada and Lautaro Martínez.
Egypt: The Pharaohs, on the other hand, have made two changes from the side that beat Australia on penalties. Haissem Hassan replaces Omar Marmoush up front, while Mohanad Lasheen comes into the midfield in place of Hamdy Fathy.
So this is how the World Cup knockouts look thus far. It has been an epic of the tournament and, at long last, we approach its business end now.
This is the first time that Argentina face Egypt in the World Cup and the first match between the two sides in nearly two decades. The last game between them was a friendly in Cairo which Argentina had won 2-0. Sergio Aguero and Nicolás Burdisso were the goalscorers; Messi was injured and missed the match.
That was just the second match that was played at all between the two sides. The first match was all the way back in the 1928 Olympics. Argentina had won that match 6-0.
Argentina: Emiliano Martinez, Molina, Romero, Lisandro Martinez, Tagliafico, De Paul, Paredes, Mac Allister, Fernandez, Messi, Alvarez.
Subs: Musso, Rulli, Senesi, Montiel, Barco, Lo Celso, Palacios, Gonzalez, Almada, Simeone, Paz, Otamendi, Lopez, Lautaro Martinez, Medina.
Egypt: Shobeir, Hany, Rabia, Ibrahim, Hafez, Ashour, Attia, Lasheen, Hassan, Salah, Ziko.
Subs: El Shenawy, Soliman, Mohamed Alaa, Abdelmaguid, Trezeguet, Abdelkarim, Fathi, Emad, Adel, Saber, Marmoush, Tarek Alaa, Zizo.
This is the biggest sporting event in the world, some may say even more famous than the Olympics. Naturally, memes have been on overdrive and today, as it turns out, Egypt have a chance at breaking a triangle. Or getting the triangle modified. Something like that.
We have a golden boot race from the heavens in this World Cup folks. At the moment, Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland are all tied on a whopping seven goals, with the former being placed at the top due to his two assists.
Italia '90 was the 14th edition of the FIFA World Cup finals and the first in which an African side reached the quarterfinals of the tournament. That was the Cameroon of Roger Milla and they lost to England on penalties. On the way there, they had beaten Argentina in their opening match of the group stage.
Since then, three more African countries have reached this stage of the World Cup -- Senegal (2002), Ghana (2010) and Morocco (2022 and 2026). Egypt are looking to become the fifth team from the continent to get there. Strange that they haven't yet done that despite winning more African Cup of Nations titles than any other.
That is what head coach Lionel Scaloni said about how Argentina had to play in the dying minutes of extra time in their match against Cabo Verde. They had no substitutions left and at least three players -- Facundo Medina (subbed off with cramps), Enzo Fernández (cramp) and Nicolás González (ankle) -- were visibly struggling towards the end.
“In the final minutes, we had no substitutions, some players had cramps, and it was a matter of defending like a cornered cat,” said Scaloni. “In the final minutes, we had no substitutions, some players had cramps, and it was a matter of defending like a cornered cat,” said Scaloni.
Lionel Messi scored his seventh goal of the tournament but Argentina hardly looked like the defending champions facing absolute newcomers in their round of 32 match against the valiant Cabo Verde. The match remarkably went into extra time and eventually, Argentina edged it 3-2.
Meanwhile, Egypt had a dramatic game of their own to navigate against Australia in the round of 32. THe match ended 1-1 and Egypt won the penalty shootout 4-2.
Goalkeepers: Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa), Gerónimo Rulli (Olympique de Marseille), Juan Musso (Atlético de Madrid)
Defenders: Gonzalo Montiel (River Plate), Nahuel Molina (Atlético de Madrid), Lisandro Martínez (Manchester United), Nicolás Otamendi (SL Benfica), Leonardo Balerdi (Olympique de Marseille), Cristian Romero (Tottenham Hotspur), Facundo Medina (Olympique de Marseille), Nicolás Tagliafico (Olympique Lyonnais)
Midfielders: Leandro Paredes (Boca Juniors), Rodrigo De Paul (Inter Miami), Exequiel Palacios (Bayer Leverkusen), Enzo Fernández (Chelsea), Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool), Giovani Lo Celso (Real Betis), Valentín Barco (RC Strasbourg)
Forwards: Lionel Messi (Inter Miami), Nicolás Paz (Como 1907), Thiago Almada (Atlético de Madrid), Nicolás González (Atlético de Madrid), Giuliano Simeone (Atlético de Madrid), Lautaro Martínez (Internazionale), José Manuel López (Palmeiras), Julián Álvarez (Atlético de Madrid)
Goalkeepers: Mohamed El Shenawy (Al Ahly), Mostafa Shobeir (Al Ahly), Mohamed Alaa (El Gouna)
Defenders: Mohamed Hani (Al Ahly), Tarek Alaa (Zed), Hamdy Fathy (Al Wakrah), Rami Rabia (Al Ain), Yasser Ibrahim (Al Ahly), Hossam Abdelmaguid (Zamalek), Mohamed Abdelmonem (Nice), Ahmed Fotouh (Zamalek), Karim Hafez (Pyramids)
Midfielders: Marwan Attia (Al Ahly), Mohanad Lasheen (Pyramids), Nabil Emad (Al Najma), Mahmoud Saber (Zed), Ahmed Zizo (Al Ahly), Emam Ashour (Al Ahly), Mostafa Ziko (Pyramids), Mahmoud Trezeguet (Al Ahly), Ibrahim Adel (Nordsjaelland), Haissem Hassan (Real Ovideo)
Forwards: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Omar Marmoush (Manchester City), Aqtay Abdallah (Enppi), Hamza Abdelkarim (Barcelona)
Two superstars who have embodied football in their respective countries. Today, one of them say goodbye to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. And with them, a very good team will go as well. Welcome to the penultimate round of 16 match of this tournament and the defending champions Argentina face seven-time African champions Egypt in Atlanta. Stay tuned for further updates!
A large period of Mohamed Salah’s life has been spent in Lionel Messi’s shadow. The Egyptian was a young prodigy and started to play senior football at a time when the Argentine was at the peak of his powers. The comparisons that followed were plentiful, and just like every country’s left-footed right winger was cast a footballing death by way of a Messi side-by-side contrasting profile, Salah was also made to suffer. (READ MORE)
