Messi brings Argentina back from the dead as Pharaohs surrender two-goal lead to lose 3-2

Argentina turned the tables on Egypt in a 13-minute goal rush, with Lionel Messi bringing them back to life and Enzo Fernandez scoring a memorable added-time header to post a 3-2 win in their round of 16 match of the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta.

Like Senegal squandered a 2-0 lead against Belgium in the round of 32 in the final four minutes of regulation time, their African cousins, Egypt, were guilty of failing to preserve a two-goal advantage they had worked so hard to achieve.

Yasser Ibrahim (15) and Mostafa Zico (67) had put Egypt in control. Even as Cristian Romero scored from a Messi cross in the 79th minute, Egypt's destiny had not been sealed. It was, four minutes later, when Messi scored from a melee in the box.

As the clock ticked down, Egypt screamed for a foul on Mo Salah as he fell in the box. But the referee was unimpressed, and Argentina went on a counterattack. Lautaro Martinez, who had not started the match, was dragged out wide but managed to find Chelsea midfielder Enzo in the box. The cross was perfect, and the header was even better, placing it past Mostafa Shoubir.

The Egyptian goalkeeper could have done nothing about it. He had been heavily involved in the first half, saving a Messi penalty, denying Alexis Mac Allister from point-blank range and keeping out Julian Alvarez with a low diving save.

In the first half, Argentina fans must have thought Cabo Verde's maverick goalkeeper, Vozinha, was not an anomaly, because the Egyptian under the goal, Shoubir, was equally good. But that thought vaporised the moment Messi fired into the roof of the net in the 83rd minute for his eighth goal of the tournament.

Egypt, for their part, had done enough at one end of the pitch. Zico smashed home from close range shortly after being denied a wonderful team goal in the 59th minute that was chopped off following a VAR intervention. Ibrahim had put them in front with a smart header off a Marawan Attia cross.

The decision to disallow Zico’s first goal was controversial to say the least because the referee went back to an Attia foul on Lisandro Martinez while trying to retrieve the ball deep in the Egyptian half.

What the officials conveniently overlooked, let us record for posterity: It started with a sensational Haissem Hassan run from inside his half, leaving a trio of Argentine defenders in their wake before finding Salah. The Egyptian skipper deftly released Zico on the left and he finished smartly past Emi Martinez.

But as poetic justice goes, the trio that was involved in the disallowed goal got together to make the second Egyptian goal: Salah to Hassan to Zico. However, Argentina had the last laugh despite trailing for the first time in the tournament. Morocco remain the only African side in the World Cup, and they face the mighty French in Foxborough on July 9.