5 Things we learned from Argentina’s comeback against Egypt

1. I don’t even know where to start with this one? You’d think this game couldn’t be more dramatic than the Cape Verde one last round for Argentina but I think it actually was, Argentina began the game strong but it was Egypt who scored first as a short corner was played back to Marwan Ateya who floated a beautiful ball in for Yasser Ibrahim who rose above Martinez to give Egypt an unlikely lead in the 14th minute. Just a few minutes later Argentina had an opportunity to equalise after Tagliafico was brought down in the box by Hassan but the opportunity wasn’t taken as Messi’s penalty was brilliantly saved by Shobeir, Argentina continued to pile the pressure on in the first half but couldn’t find the equaliser as Shobeir continued making save after save in the Egypt goal. The World Champions were pushing heavily for the equaliser at the start of the second half but it was Egypt who struck again as Hassan went on a mesmeric run down the right giving the ball to Salah who slipped Ziko in who lifted the ball over Martinez to put Egypt 2-0 up in the 57th minute, or so they thought as the referee was brought to the monitor as the VAR thought Lisandro Martinez was fouled by Hassan in the lead up to the goal. The referee agreed and disallowed what would have been arguably the goal of the tournament so far, not that that seemed to bother Egypt as 10 minutes later they did make it 2-0 on the counter as Salah gave the ball off to Hassan on the right who ghosted past Enzo Fernandez and pulled the ball back to Ziko who’s goal did count this time to shockingly give Egypt a 2-0 lead in the 68th minute.

2. The comeback of all comebacks. As the clock ticked on time was running out for Argentina to mount the comeback but in the 79th minute they did get one back as Messi lofted the ball over the Egyptian defence for Cristian Romero who headed one back for Argentina, from then you knew the World Champions were going to equalise and surely just 4 minutes later they did as Messi’s cross was deflected to the back-post to Enzo Fernandez who acrobatically played the ball across the box to Montiel who laid the ball back to Messi who fired Argentina level on the volley to set up a grans stand last ten minutes. As the minutes ticked on the game was going end to end in added time as Alvarez won the ball back in the Argentine box and launched the ball to Lautaro Martinez on the counter who found Enzo Fernandez with a ridiculous cross whose header found the back of net to give Argentina the win in the most outrageous last 15 minutes we’ve seen in this World Cup, whatever you do never discount the World Champions in a major tournament. These players will die for the badge.

3. A heartbreaker for Egypt in the second half. For 80 minutes Egypt played the perfect game today on the counter, especially in the second half when Haissem Hassan played the like a man possessed down that right-hand-side and I do feel like his injury in the 73rd minute was when the entire game changed for both sides. Egypt’s counter attack threat was instantly killed and Argentina could throw as many forward as they wanted without having to worry about their defence, you’d think that Omar Marmoush could help keep up the threat but he’s had a horrific tournament and had an opportunity to to give Egypt the lead again in the 90th minute on a 3 v 1 but overplayed the ball and was tackled by Paredes. A tournament defining moment that will go down as a ‘what could have been’ for probably every Egyptian that was watching, unfortunately without that threat on the break Egypt just retreated further and further back which allowed Argentina to just send cross after cross into the box which led to the first two goals for Argentina. By the end of the game they looked absolutely knackered which you can understand after such an up and down game, the Argentina bench was too strong for Egypt in the end but you can’t help but admire their performance today and in the whole tournament. What could have been for Egypt today?

4. Are FIFA rigging this tournament for Argentina? Okay so as I’m writing this and throughout the game I’ve seen people say yet again the referee favoured Argentina with decisions throughout the match so lets get into it, first of all the penalty in the first half was about as blatant as it gets so there’s no issues there for me anyway maybe you’ll disagree. We’ve seen throughout the tournament that Argentina are pretty aggressive just in general play and do get away with some pretty rough challenges but we’ve seen this type of refereeing throughout the tournament like in the France vs Paraguay game so that’s not just an Argentina thing, that brings us on to the disallowed Egypt goal which I think goes against the way the referee was officiating the whole game. Normally that incident is a foul but if you’re being lenient all game then why change that when your at the screen? Anyway he disallowed the goal and Egypt went on to make it 2-0 anyway so the conditions of Argentina’s comeback are the same whether the goal counts or not, the Egyptians argued over two penalties in the last 10 minutes but if you’ve seen the incidents then you’ll already know that neither are anywhere close to a penalty so I can’t really understand the crazy outrage after from everyone. Obviously Egypt will be raging because they’ve just been to war for 90 minutes but everyone else is just jumping on the Argentina hate wagon in my opinion, what do you think about the whole situation?

5. Who do Argentina play in the quarter-finals? Up next for the World Champions will be either Switzerland or Colombia who play later on this evening, if Colombia go through then it will be a rematch of the Copa America final in 2024 which Argentina won in extra-time so there’s recent history there. Whoever it is Argentina will go into that game as favourites but as we’ve now seen against Cape Verde and Egypt this Argentina team can be got at so I wouldn’t rule out a shock in the next round, it should be a cracker nonetheless on the basis of their last two games.