Lionel Messi opened up about struggles against Cape Verde as Argentina nearly missed a World Cup upset to advance to the round of 16.
Argentina on Friday, July 3, claimed a nail-biting 2-3 victory over Cape Verde to continue its 2026 journey.
During the match, the eight-time Ballon d’Or award winner opened the score for Argentina with the first goal of the match in the 29th minute, giving the team a lead before the second half.
Deroy Duarte leveled the score in the 59th minute. Both sides failed to net the ball in the rest of the remaining time, leading the match to the most thrilling extra time of the mega tournament.
Manchester United defender Lisandro Martínez appeared to end Cape Verde's resistance early in extra time to make it 2-1. But Sidny Lopes Cabral, in less than 10 minutes, ended it with his magical goal.
However, Argentina took the lead again when Borges accidentally headed Romero’s shot into his own goal. But the drama was not over as Emiliano Martínez made an amazing save on Cabral’s free kick to send Argentina in the next round.
Lionel Messi extends World Cup goal streak
The 39-year-old extended his record after scoring in the eighth consecutive match of the World Cup, bringing his tally to 20.
It was Messi’s seventh goal of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which means that he is once again leading the Golden Boot race, leaving behind France’s forward Kylian Mbappé, who won the award in 2022 after scoring 12 times in eight matches.
Messi breaks silence after Argentina vs Cape Verde
Following the tough match, Messi said in Spanish that they “did good things," and now moving forward they have to “correct the bad things.”
Later, taking to his Instagram, the former Barcelona star acknowledged that they had a tough time against the Africans who were playing their first World Cup.
He wrote, “We knew it was going to be difficult, but we endured it and pulled through. We continue…”
Argentina vs Egypt
Lionel Messi’s Argentina is all set to play Mohammad Salah’s Egypt in the round of 16 on Tuesday, July 7, at Atlanta Stadium.
Egypt claimed its first-ever World Cup knockout win on Friday, July 3, eliminating Australia on penalties.
