Reigning champion Argentina escapes with remarkable World Cup victory over Egypt

Argentina, the defending World Cup champion and the tournament’s No. 1-ranked team, completed a remarkable comeback after trailing Egypt 2-0 late in the match. The turnaround came in a span of 13 minutes, when Argentina scored three times to secure an unexpected World Cup victory and stun Egypt. Egypt took control early at Atlanta, with Yasser Ibrahim scoring a header goal in the 15th minute. Argentina struggled to equalize afterward, including a missed penalty conversion by captain Lionel Messi. Egypt added a second goal in the 67th minute from Mostafa Ziko, after an earlier Egyptian goal was disallowed following video review. The comeback began at 79 minutes when Messi set up Cristian Romero, then Messi scored again four minutes later for his eighth goal of the tournament. In stoppage time, Enzo Fernandez capped the rally with another header. Argentina’s next match is the quarterfinals against the winner of Switzerland vs. Colombia.