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 Shobair, 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 them.
Messi, who was in tears at the final whistle, had earlier become the first player in World Cup history to miss twice from the 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 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.
Scaloni had promised his team was “on alert” after their close shave against Cape Verde in the previous round and he made three changes from the extra-time win in Miami. That included a recall for Julián Alvarez in attack in place of Lautaro Martínez, while Egypt made two alterations from their historic penalty shootout triumph against Australia but bravely matched up their opponents’ 4-4-2 formation as Haissem Hassan was preferred to Manchester City’s Omar Marmoush.
Hossam Hassan’s side arrived in the United States having never won a World Cup finals match in three previous appearances, including in 1934 when they were eliminated in the first round. After finally ending that hoodoo, the seven-time African champions were determined not to just make up the numbers and made the perfect 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 Hassan brought down Nicolas Tagliafico inside the area and the French referee 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 Shobair. 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.
Shobair – who has only established himself as first-choice ahead of veteran Mohamed El Shenawy in recent months ate 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 the post before Shobair somehow kept out a close range effort from 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 Word Cup match since the 4-0 humiliation against Germany in the 2010 quarter-finals.
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Yet they showed little signs of improvement after the break. To Scaloni’s relief, the video assistant referee disallowed a brilliant breakaway goal from Ziko at the start of the second half after a superb run down the left by Hossan 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 Hossan left Nahuel Moilna for dead before cutting the ball back for Ziko to dispatch past Emi 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 his 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 Shobair got two hands to his shot but couldn’t keep it out. There was even more drama to come.
