ATLANTA (USA): In an absolute nail-biter of a knockout clash in the Round of 16 at the FIFA World Cup 2026™, defending champions Argentina executed one of the most spectacular comebacks in football history to secure their quarter-final berth. Trailing 0-2 deep into the second half at the Atlanta Stadium, Argentina staged a fierce counter-offensive to defeat Egypt 3-2. Egypt’s resolute defensive bench strength held absolute command until the 70th minute, but a relentless blitz from Argentina’s attacking syndicate saw them fire three goals in the final 13 minutes to completely shatter Egyptian hearts.
Egypt opened the scoring aggressively with Yasser Ibrahim heading home in the 15th minute to make it 1-0. Argentina’s legendary captain Lionel Messi missed a golden opportunity to equalize when his 20th-minute penalty was spectacularly saved by Egyptian keeper Mostafa Shobeir. Egypt capitalized on that momentum in the 67th minute, with Mostafa Ziko launching a kaddak counter-attack to extend their lead to 2-0, pushing Argentina to the absolute brink of a monumental World Cup upset.
However, Argentina’s ‘Zero Tolerance’ attacking engine ignited in the 79th minute when Cristian Romero pulled one back with a powerful header. Just four minutes later, in the 83rd minute, Lionel Messi redeemed himself by smashing home a brilliant field goal to level the score at 2-2—marking his record-extending 21st World Cup goal. As the match seemed destined for extra time, Enzo Fernández delivered a dramatic 90+2′ injury-time header off a brilliant Lautaro Martínez cross to seal the 3-2 winner, marking the 3,000th goal in World Cup history. Argentina will now face Switzerland in the quarter-finals.
