Heartbreak for Egypt as Argentina pull off comeback for the ages

DUBAI: Argentina pulled off one of their greatest ever comebacks to beat Egypt 3-2 in Atlanta and reach the quarterfinals of the 2026 World Cup in the most dramatic of circumstances.

A match that was going to be the last World Cup appearance of either Lionel Messi or Mohamed Salah would end with the 2022 champions proving that they could never be written off even when they are not at their best.

Egypt’s win over Australia on penalties in the round of 32 was their first ever in the knockout stages of the World Cup, and they were looking to extend their unbeaten run to five matches against the reigning champions.

It was a dream start for the Pharaohs. Having started the match in fearless fashion by taking the game to Argentina, Egypt broke the deadlock on 111 minutes when their first corner of the match was worked back to Marwan Attia, whose pinpoint cross was powered past Eli Martinez by Yasser Ibrahim.

The joy looked like it might be short lived when Nicolas Tagliafico drew a foul in the penalty area to give Argentina the opportunity to level the match from the spot five minutes later. Incredibly, Messi missed his second penalty effort of the 2026 World Cup, Egypt’s keeper Mostafa Shobeir pulling off one of the saves of his life to keep the lead intact.

The hydration break gave Egypt the chance to take it all in, but Argentina almost equalized after the restart when the excellent Shobeir was equal to Alexis Mac Allister’s close-range header.

On the half-hour mark Messi stuck Shobeir’s right-hand post from a freekick as Argentina raised the tempo. Eight minutes later the Egyptian stopper’s night hit new heights when he made a spectacular save from a close-range Julian Alvarez effort.

As expected, the second half