On Tuesday (July 7), Argentina defeated Egypt 3-2 in the round of 16 to reach the quarter-finals. Meanwhile, Switzerland made history by beating Colombia 4-3 on penalties as the country reached the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 1954.
Defending champions Argentina staged a stunning comeback against Egypt on Thursday. Yasser Ibrahim scored in the 15th minute of the first half to give Egypt a 1-0 lead, but Argentina failed to equalise a few minutes later when Messi’s penalty was saved by Egyptian goalkeeper Mostafa Shobair.
Messi became the first player to miss two penalties at the tournament. He missed penalties against Austria in the group stage and Egypt in the quarter-finals, but his goal-scoring ability was not affected. The 39-year-old is currently leading the Golden Boot race with eight goals without a penalty in the World Cup so far.
Mostafa Ziko scored a stunning goal in the 58th minute of the second half to put the team 2–0 up, but the goal was disallowed when a VAR review showed that Marwan Attia had fouled Lisandro MartÃnez.
However, five minutes later, Ziko scored again on an Egyptian counterattack to give the team a 2-0 lead, which put a frown on the faces of the Argentine fans present in the stadium.
The Argentine fans in the stadium erupted in cheers when Cristian Romero scored the team’s first goal in the 79th minute. Argentina then equalized in the 83rd minute thanks to a goal from Messi, and Enzo Fernández scored the winning goal in the 93rd minute.
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However, the 39-year-old Messi, who missed a penalty against Egypt but later scored the 21st goal of his World Cup career and played a key role in the team’s victory, is being praised on the internet.
Defending champions Argentina will face Switzerland in the quarterfinals on Saturday, July 11 at Kansas City Stadium. The two teams last met in the round of 16 of the 2014 World Cup, where Argentina defeated Switzerland 1-0.
