Messi misses penalty after Egypt take lead; Argentina trail after nearly 400 minutes

Argentina fans must have thought Cabo Verde's maverick goalkeeper Vozinha was an anomaly after his heroics so nearly upset the World Champions in the round of 32.

Wonder what they think of Mostafa Shoubir of Egypt on the evidence of the first 45 minutes of their round of 16 showdown in Atlanta.

Shoubir saved a Lionel Messi penalty, denied Alexis Mac Allister from point-blank range and made a remarkable low diving save to keep out Julian Alvarez to leave Argentina goalless in the first half.

While Shoubir handled one end of the pitch, Yasser Ibrahim got in front of Lisandro Martinez to head down a beautiful cross from Marawan Attia to put the Pharaohs in front in the 15th minute.

With Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal and Neymar’s Brazil crashing out, pressure is on Leo Messi to keep his side in the title hunt. But Shoubir, like Vozinha, has raised a wall in front of Argentina. Vozinha had made eight saves in his side's narrow 2-3 defeat to the defending champions. 

A striking difference between the ongoing match in Atlanta and the one against Cabo Verde is that Messi gave Argentina the lead in the first half against the tiny African island nation.

In fact, the South American side was never behind in the whole tournament, finishing off Algeria 3-0, blanking Austria 2-0 before getting the better of Jodran (1-3) without Messi starting.

Messi, widely regarded as the GOAT (greatest of all time), will aim to move clear of Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland, who have challenged him for the golden boot with seven goals each.

Egypt are only the second African side left in the tournament after Morocco, who advanced to the quarterfinals and are set to take on France in the last eight stage. Egypt beat Australia 4-2 in a penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw.