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Argentina v Egypt preview: Magical Messi to inspire holders again
By Jack Ogalbe
Holders Argentina avoided one of the all-time World Cup scares as they saw off Cape Verde in extra time and now face Egypt in the last 16 after the Pharaohs overcame Australia on penalties.
The Socceroos pushed the Argentinians in the second round at the last World Cup but were second best for long periods against Egypt and could not force a repeat of that game in Qatar four years ago. Instead, the world will get to see Lionel Messi versus Mohamed Salah on the global stage for the first — and probably last — time.
Messi opened the scoring against Cape Verde to take his tally for this tournament to seven goals and career World Cup total to 20, before Deroy Duarte drilled in and the game went to extra-time. Lisandro Martinez then netted before Sidny Lopes Cabral curled in a wonderful Blue Sharks equaliser, only for Cristian Romero's header to flick in off Diney Borges and send the Albiceleste through.
Salah scored his penalty in the Pharaohs' shootout victory, opting for a Panenka-style dink over Mat Ryan, and Hossam Abdelmaguid stroked home the winning spot-kick to secure Egypt's first World Cup knockout win. The two nations now need to regroup and recover ahead of their last-16 tie in Atlanta, with the winner facing either Switzerland or Colombia in the quarter-finals.
Argentina have lost only one of their last 19 games and are the clear favourites, having won all three of their Group J matches. Lionel Scaloni's squad is almost the same as the one that won their country's third World Cup four years ago, and there is a familiarity to how they play.
Since guiding Argentina to third at the 2019 Copa America after taking over on an interim basis in 2018, Scaloni has won two Copas and a World Cup, and he and his players know how to get results. However, as was the case against Cape Verde, they tend to start well but let opponents back into games. Having also conceded against Jordan in their final pool match, Argentina are picked to win again, but without the comfort of a clean sheet.
Egypt have demonstrated flair in their campaign and have scored in all four of their World Cup matches, making them worthy of backing to get on the scoresheet. Salah will also be desperate to show he can still compete at the top level, but few can match Messi.
He turned 39 last month but remains sharp enough to bend games to his will and has opened the scoring in three of Argentina's four matches. The anomaly was the win over Jordan when he started on the bench and concluded the scoring in Arlington. After finally lifting the World Cup four years ago, Messi looks determined to make more history by helping his country retain the trophy and set new scoring benchmarks. Egypt have yet to shut an opponent out in this tournament, and Messi is an obvious pick to open the scoring for the fourth time in five games.
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