Argentina looked to continue its quest for back-to-back World Cup titles, facing off against Cape Verde in the knockout stage. The small island nation off the coast of West Africa came into the match as the No. 64-ranked team in the world and managed to hold Argentina scoreless for almost thirty minutes.
Lionel Messi scored in the 29th minute to give Argentina the lead. This was the 20th World Cup goal of his career, and it also made him the first player to score seven or more goals in multiple World Cups.
Cape Verde’s Deroy Duarte tied the game at 1-1 early in the second half. The match went into extra time, with Lisandro Martinez finding the twine in the 92nd minute to give Argentina the lead. However, Cape Verde stuck with the defending World Cup champs, and in the 103rd minute, Sidny Lopes Cabral scored an unbelievable goal to tie the game again.
In the 111th minute, Messi took an Argentina corner kick and put it in the perfect spot for Cristian Romero to head it to the back post and into the back of the net. This was eventually updated to an own-goal, as it went off the Cape Verde defender’s arm, but it counts the same on the scoreboard.
Argentina Advances
Despite a late flurry of chances, Argentina held on to avoid what would have been potentially the biggest upset in World Cup history. Argentina will now have to recompose and get ready for a tough Round of 16 match against Egypt.
Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
