Lionel Messi stood in the box in the 83rd minute, two goals down, his team staring at elimination, and did what Lionel Messi has done for two decades: he made the impossible look like it was always going to happen.
His equalizer, a rocket off a deflected ball from Gonzalo Montiel, pulled Argentina level at 2-2 and set the stage for one of the greatest World Cup comebacks in tournament history.
Nine minutes later, Enzo Fernandez headed in a cross from Lautaro Martinez in the 92nd minute to complete a 3-2 comeback that sends defending champion Argentina into the quarterfinals and Egypt home. Time magazine called it “a Messi miracle” and it is hard to argue with the framing.
How Argentina Almost Went Out
Egypt dominated the first 70 minutes and deserved their lead. Yasser Ibrahim opened the scoring in the 15th minute with a header that beat Argentina’s defense clean, and the Egyptian fans in the stands at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, believed they were watching history unfold from the right side.
Then came the penalty. Messi stepped up in the 21st minute, and the goalkeeper read him perfectly. The miss felt like an omen. When Mostafa Ziko doubled Egypt’s lead in the 67th minute, Argentina looked cooked. Manager Lionel Scaloni’s tactical adjustments had produced nothing, and the defending champions were 23 minutes from their earliest World Cup exit since 2002.
What followed was, as ABC News described it, a performance fueled by sheer individual will. Cristian Romero pulled one back in the 79th minute from a corner kick. The momentum shifted immediately.
Messi’s Record, One More Time
The 83rd-minute goal was Messi’s 21st in World Cup competition, extending his own all-time record. He broke Miroslav Klose’s previous record of 16 goals earlier in the group stage and has now pushed the mark to a number that may never be touched.
At 39, Messi has made it clear this is his final World Cup. Every goal from here carries the weight of a farewell tour, and Tuesday’s was the kind that gets replayed in FIFA montages for the next 50 years: the deflection, the positioning, the finish, the slide on his knees toward the corner flag. He has scored in four different World Cups across 21 years. Nobody has done that. Nobody will.
The Quarterfinal Picture
Argentina’s survival sets up a quarterfinal matchup that will be determined by the remaining Round of 16 results. The tournament, the first with 48 teams, has already produced a series of upsets: Brazil fell to Norway, the USMNT was eliminated 4-1 by Belgium, and host nation Canada went out to Morocco.
The expanded format has delivered exactly what FIFA promised and critics feared: more games, more drama, and more heartbreak for traditional powers caught in unfamiliar brackets. Argentina nearly joined that list. Instead, they reminded everyone why betting against Messi in a World Cup remains the worst wager in sports.
The quarterfinals begin Friday. Argentina will be there, alive by the thinnest of margins and the broadest of legacies.