'Messi in tears' truly rose from the dead, from the disgrace of missing two PKs to a 1-goal, 1-assist performance... '0-2 until the 79th minute,' Argentina scores three goals for a miraculous quarterfinal advance

*This content was translated by AI.

'The God of Football' Lionel Messi (Inter Miami) truly rose from the dead. Once again, he put his homeland Argentina in a crisis of defeat by missing a penalty kick, but he saved the team himself with insane performance in the final moments of the second half. Argentina also achieved a miraculous comeback victory. Messi, who went through hell and heaven, poured tears onto the field when the final whistle signaling victory sounded.

Argentina defeated Egypt 3-2 in the 2026 FIFA North American World Cup Round of 16 match held at Atlanta Stadium in the United States on the 8th (Korean time). Having reached the summit of the previous 2022 Qatar tournament, Argentina advanced to the quarterfinals and continued its challenge for back-to-back World Cup titles. Messi's 'last dance' journey also continued.

In this match, Argentina breathed a sigh of relief. Until just 11 minutes before the end of the game, Argentina was trailing 0-2. Egypt, led by Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), the top scorer of the English Premier League (EPL), relentlessly pushed Argentina. Yasser Ibrahim (Al-Ahly SC) scored the opening goal in the 15th minute of the first half, and Mostafa Zico (Pyramids) added another goal through a quick counterattack in the 22nd minute of the second half.

There was an even more dangerous situation for Argentina. In the 17th minute of the second half, Zico also shook the net. If that goal had been recognized, Argentina might have lost its ability to counterattack entirely. However, after VAR review, a foul by Egypt during the build-up process was pointed out, and the goal was disallowed.

Until then, Messi also played a very difficult match. In the 21st minute of the first half, he missed a penalty kick and bowed his head. He aimed at the right side of the goal and struck hard with his left foot, which he usually uses, but Egypt goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir (Al-Ahly SC) read the direction and blocked it.

Due to this miss, Messi wrote the disgraceful record of being the first player in World Cup history to miss two penalty kicks in a single tournament. Earlier, Messi also missed a penalty kick in the Group J match against Austria during the group stage of this tournament. Messi's penalty kick success rate in the World Cup is not good. He has previously missed penalty kicks in the 2018 Russia World Cup group stage match against Iceland and the 2022 Qatar World Cup group stage match against Poland.

Messi swallowed another disappointment when his free kick from a long distance hit the goalpost and came out in the 31st minute of the first half.

On top of that, Egypt goalkeeper Shobeir's spectacular saves made Argentina even more anxious. Shobeir blocked several decisive shots on this day. In particular, the scene where he used animalistic instinct to deflect Julian Alvarez (Atletico Madrid)'s direct left-foot shot in front of the goal in the 39th minute of the first half was the highlight. Even when Egypt made it 2-0 in the second half, the outcome seemed decided.

Argentina trailed by two goals until the 34th minute of the second half. However, the defending champion did not give up. They scored a total of three goals in the remaining time to achieve a miraculous comeback victory. At the center was undoubtedly Messi.

Messi ignited the spark of pursuit first in the 34th minute of the second half. He delivered an accurate cross from the right flank, and center-back Cristian Romero (Tottenham) finished with a header goal. Argentina caught up to 1-2, completely changing the atmosphere.

In the 38th minute of the second half, Messi himself scored the equalizing goal. In the penalty box, Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan) passed the ball back, and Messi connected it with a direct left-foot shot. Messi's shot hit goalkeeper Shobeir's hand, struck the crossbar, and then went into the goal. Messi, who had bowed his head due to missing a penalty kick in the first half, saved Argentina again at the most crucial moment.

Messi and the Argentine players cheered with their arms wide open. Egypt's dense defense, which tried hard to maintain the lead, eventually collapsed.

After catching a breath, Argentina scored a dramatic comeback goal in the second minute of stoppage time in the second half. The protagonist this time was Enzo Fernandez (Chelsea). After cutting off Egypt's attack, Argentina immediately launched a counterattack, and Lautaro Martinez delivered an accurate cross from the right flank. Fernandez finished it with his head, putting an end to the match.

Egypt claimed there was a penalty foul by Argentina during their own attacking situation just before conceding the winning goal. The players protested strongly, but the decision did not change. Ultimately, Argentina achieved a thrilling comeback victory, overturning 0-2 to 3-2, and advanced to the quarterfinals.

Messi also celebrated while shedding tears. With one additional goal on this day, Messi rose to sole first place in the scoring category with eight goals at the North American World Cup. He also extended his all-time World Cup record for most goals to 21.

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*This content was translated by AI.