27 min: The game restarts.
26 min: According to ITV, Lionel Messi has just become the first player to miss two penalties at the same World Cup (not counting shootouts), having already missed one against Austria. Football is such a weird sport sometimes.
24 min: … and that’s drinks. Argentina field this first break, and serve up some digestif liqueur with cola. Chin chin!
23 min: That was the eighth penalty Messi has taken at a World Cup … and the fourth missed! That’s an absurdly poor record for one of the greatest players ever to pull on boots.
Messi's penalty is saved
21 min: After the usual pre-penalty faff, Messi steps up and slaps his spot kick towards the bottom right. It’s not well hit. Nowhere near the corner and the perfect height for a keeper! Shobeir reads the intent and parries clear!
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Penalty for Argentina
19 min: Tagliafico chases after Fernandez’s pass down the inside-left channel. He enters the box. Hassan, who had let his man go too easily, sticks out a panicked leg and brings him down. The referee points immediately to the spot.
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17 min: Salah is clipped by Paredes, inside the Argentina D. The referee waves play on. A free kick awarded there and then would have got the old Argentinian nerves jangling.
16 min: Well, that’s put the cat among the pigeons! Anything Cape Verde can do …
GOAL! Argentina 0-1 Egypt (Ibrahim 15)
Hany pesters Lisandro Martinez down the right and wins Egypt their first corner of the match. The set piece is worked back up the flank to Attia, who swings in. Ibrahim ghosts in ahead of Lisandro Martinez and plants an unstoppable header into the top right! Emi Martinez rooted to the spot!
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13 min: De Paul clips Ashour late, an obvious free kick. De Paul doesn’t think so, and nearly talks himself into the book with his over-reaction. Messi comes across to calm everything down.
11 min: Argentina sprang dangerously to life there, and Egypt have done well to come out the other side unscathed. An early shot across the bow from the champs.
9 min: Fernandez sends a ball down the inside-right channel and nearly releases Messi. Rabia ushers him away. But Argentina come again, Mac Allister pinging De Paul clear on the right. De Paul makes it to the right-hand edge of the six-yard box, and rolls across for Fernandez … who somehow sidefoots wide right from a couple of yards! What a preposterous miss! He’s very relieved to see the flag pop up (correctly) for offside.
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7 min: Hassan looked dangerous against Australia, and he starts well here, winning a free kick down the right. Attia sends a ball into the mixer and Argentina let it sail all the way across the face of their goal. They get away with that, as there are no red shirts lurking. That’ll give Egypt some hope.
5 min: Fernandez strips Salah of the ball and makes to launch an attack with Egypt light at the back. But the whistle goes for a generous foul. Fernandez is astounded, but the referee’s word is (these days only usually) final.
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3 min: Messi drops deep and tries to release Tagliafico with a reverse pass down the inside-left channel. He overcooks it. Goal kick. Nobody’s perfect.
2 min: … but Fernandez gets back up once the sting of impact subsides. Relief for Argentina.
1 min: Fernandez goes down having taken a whack on the knee from Hany. An accidental collision but a sore one nonetheless. A bit of concern.
Argentina get the ball rolling. It’s relatively cool under the closed roof.
The teams congregate in the tunnel. Mo Salah clasps friendly hands with Lionel Messi, then warmly hugs his former Liverpool team-mate Alexis Mac Allister. A lovely moment before everyone marches out to battle. A fine atmosphere inside the home of the Atlanta Falcons. Argentina are in their famous blue and white stripes, while Egypt wear first-choice red. We’ll be off once the anthems have been sung and coins tossed. Give it five.
Pre-match postbag. “At last, a game I can actually watch without falling asleep half way through. Well, I say that, but I’m on holiday and have been on the McTinn since lunchtime. Wimbledon’s just not the same since Andy Murray stopped playing, so it’s the World Cup all the way for me now. Somebody’s bringing it home, that’s for sure, hopefully it’ll be anyone but England, baby!” – Simon McMahon
“Be prepared for the following scenario. Belgium team gets deported. USA plays Spain as Belgium is not available (permissible under article DT250GI). Spain gets deported. USA plays France. France gets deported along with the Statue of Liberty. You get the drift. 19th July USA is crowned champions unopposed” – krishnamoorthy v
“That claim of biking from Buenos Aires to Atlanta seems outrageous. I asked Google. Bicycling from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Atlanta, Georgia covers roughly 5,000 to 6,000+ miles (8,000 to 10,000 km) along the Pan-American Highway. Cyclists on long-haul tours generally take 1.5 to 2.5 years to complete the journey, though a highly aggressive, direct pace might cut the timeline down to about six months” – Astonished Nigel
One goal today will put Lionel Messi ahead in the race for the Golden Boot. Here’s how it looks at the moment as four genuine superstars scrap for soccer’s shiniest shoe.
There’s time to kill before kick-off. What better way to spend it than with Max, Barry et al? Join them in waving cheery-bye to Cristiano.
You wait all day for one Ed Aarons post … then two come along at once! Just as I was trailing his preview piece, Ed gets in touch with this communiqué from Georgia.
The atmosphere is building at the Atlanta Stadium, where temperatures are already in the 30s. Thankfully it’s fully air-conditioned inside. As you might expect, there are thousands of Argentina fans here to see if the reigning champions can book their place in the quarterfinals but not all have managed to get tickets. One has even cycled all the way from Buenos Aires to be here so let’s hope he gets lucky. There’s also plenty of Pharaohs fans wearing Mohamed Salah shirts. Can the Egyptian King inspire them to a famous victory?
A tale of two 10s. Lionel Messi and Mo Salah have met twice before. Ed Aarons has the details.
Egypt make two changes after the penalty shootout win over Australia. Haissem Hassan replaces Omar Marmoush up front, while Mohanad Lasheen comes into the midfield at the expense of Hamdy Fathy.
Argentina make three changes to their starting XI following the 3-2 extra-time victory over Cape Verde. Nicolás Tagliafico, Leandro Paredes and Julian Alvarez come in for Facundo Medina, Thiago Almada and Lautaro Martínez.
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The teams
Argentina: Emiliano Martinez, Molina, Romero, Lisandro Martinez, Tagliafico, De Paul, Paredes, Mac Allister, Fernandez, Messi, Alvarez.
Subs: Musso, Rulli, Senesi, Montiel, Barco, Lo Celso, Palacios, Gonzalez, Almada, Simeone, Paz, Otamendi, Lopez, Lautaro Martinez, Medina.
Egypt: Shobeir, Hany, Rabia, Ibrahim, Hafez, Ashour, Attia, Lasheen, Hassan, Salah, Ziko.
Subs: El Shenawy, Soliman, Mohamed Alaa, Abdelmaguid, Trezeguet, Abdelkarim, Fathy, Emad, Adel, Saber, Marmoush, Tarek Alaa, Zizo.
Referee: Francois Letexier (France).
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Argentina and Egypt have only played each other twice before. Most recently, Sergio Aguero and Nicolas Burdisso scored the goals in a 2-0 victory for La Albiceleste in a 2008 friendly in Cairo. Lionel Messi was out injured that day, so that has about as much relevance as the meeting at the 1928 Olympic Games, which Argentina won 6-0.
Egypt’s progress out of the groups was a bit more fraught. A staunch draw with Belgium, a win over New Zealand, and a skin-of-their-teeth draw against Iran.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Belgium | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 2 | Egypt | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 3 | Iran | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | New Zealand | 3 | -6 | 1 |
Having won their first group game at the World Cup, Egypt then went on to register their maiden knockout victory. It wasn’t that memorable … not until Mo Salah converted a Power Panenka, anyway.
Here’s how the world champions Argentina have got here. It was plain sailing in the groups, with Lionel Messi rattling them in during wins over Algeria, Austria and Jordan …
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Argentina | 3 | 7 | 9 |
| 2 | Austria | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| 3 | Algeria | 3 | -2 | 4 |
| 4 | Jordan | 3 | -5 | 0 |
… though things got a bit trickier in the next round. Messi is unquestionably a World Cup legend … but in a different sort of way, Sidny Lopes Cabral is too.
A reminder of how it all began … and a chance to reacquaint yourself with both teams.
Preamble
Messi versus Salah is an awfully reductive way of framing this match. But it is Messi versus Salah. But while you’d expect Messi’s Argentina to have too much for Salah’s Egypt … that Cape Verde match proved nothing is nailed-on. Also …
… and he wasn’t even on the pitch. But the underdog vibes of that day are the same. So you never know. Chances are, Argentina will set up a quarter-final match with either Switzerland or Colombia. But … well … that t-shirt, and that outcome, shows why we’re going to have to go through more than the motions. Kick-off is at 12pm EDT/5pm BST. It’s on!
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