Players of Argentina have a good time after the World Cup round of 32 soccer match against Cape Verde in Miami Gardens, Florida, Friday, July 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
MIAMI GARDENS, Florida — Lionel Messi wiped the sweat from his brow and breathed a sigh of relief. His Argentina teammates did the identical.
An exciting, unforgettable World Cup match with underdog Cape Verde was over — and the defending champions survived after being pushed to the brink.
Cape Verde equalized in regulation and again in additional time, however the Blue Sharks couldn’t reply to Argentina’s third goal, and La Albiceleste advanced to the Round of 16 with a 3-2 victory on Friday.
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Even in defeat, the performance by Cape Verde — a tiny island nation off the western coast of Africa — will stand as one of the remarkable stories of this, or any, World Cup.
“I even have to offer credit to our opponents,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said. “The reality is, when people say there’s no such thing as a simple opponent, today (Cape Verde) proved they’re an ideal team.”
The go-ahead rating for Argentina was credited as an own-goal after Cristian Romero’s header deflected off Cape Verde’s Diney Borges within the 111th minute. Messi scored early in regulation, his record-extending twentieth profession World Cup goal. Lisandro Martinez scored within the 92nd to place Argentina ahead 2-1.
Sidny Lopes Cabral and Deroy Duarte scored for Cape Verde — each equalizers that stunned the pro-Argentina crowd in South Florida. Cabral’s goal — a curling, right-footed strike past goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez within the 103rd minute — made an already wild game much more incredible, tying it at 2-all and raising the opportunity of Messi facing standout Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha in a penalty shootout.
Argentina’s Lionel Messi, center, celebrates after the World Cup round of 32 soccer match against Cape Verde in Miami Gardens, Fla., Friday, July 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Argentina pushed back in front eight minutes later, held on from there and advanced to face Egypt — which beat Australia in a shootout earlier Friday — in Atlanta on Tuesday.
“As this team has demonstrated again and again, and as I’ve said again and again, it competes,” Messi said in Spanish. “And we competed to the top.”
Cape Verde’s memorable World Cup debut had been a surprising run that few outside the country of 525,000 could have predicted. Behind the stellar play of the 40-year-old Vozinha, Cape Verde became the smallest country to succeed in the knockout round, securing surprising draws against former champions Spain and Uruguay and one other against Saudi Arabia.
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Vozinha had 10 saves against Argentina, including five against Messi.
“We dignify what our country is. We drew twice against the world champions, we took it to additional time,” Cape Verde coach Bubista said. “Greater than anything, it’s being happy with our players who were dignified within the World Cup. We showed our identity.”
Messi added one other sensible goal to his resume, sneaking behind the Cape Verde defense on a well-timed run as Martinez lofted a pass toward him, taking a fast touch and hammering a finish into the roof of the online for a 1-0 lead within the twenty ninth minute.
The Argentina captain has seven goals on this tournament — yet one more France’s Kylian Mbappé within the Golden Boot race as the highest scorer on this yr’s World Cup — and prolonged his World cup record, moving two goals ahead of Mbappé on the profession list. He has 12 goals during his record eight-match scoring streak.
Messi had the sport’s first probability that he sent skidding across the goal mouth but outside of the appropriate post within the fifteenth minute. After getting taken down, he had a 25-yard free kick three minutes later that was easily wolfed up by Vozinha, who got here up with a wonderful save nearly each time his team needed one.
“We got here so close, we pushed them right to the top,” Cape Verde defender Pico Lopes said. “But in the long run, it wasn’t to be. Dissatisfied … but I feel we showed great character today, an ideal quality to get back into the sport twice. They’re the world champions for a reason.”
Bubista and players remained on the pitch well after the ultimate whistle. Some sat with their heads nestled of their chests. Other shared tearful embraces before waving to their small crowd of supporters, reality sinking in at the top of a ride that nearly nobody outside of their fearless island could have predicted.
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“We showed that we could also be a small country,” Bubista said, “but we are able to play against a few of one of the best teams on the planet.”