The Albiceleste took a big risk: after a penalty missed by Messi, two goals from the Africans, but in the final everything happens: goal from Romero, equalizer from Leo and the winning goal from Enzo Fernandez. In the quarterfinals the match against Switzerland beat Colombia on penalties
Argentina was on the brink for 77 minutesone step away from elimination. Missed penalty by Messi (the second in a row after the one against Austria, which has never happened in the history of the World Cup), two goals by Egypt and also another inexplicably which sparked protests on the pitch and in the locker rooms. But the reigning world champions when everything is lost they rise again: Scaloni understands that you have to risk everything: inside Lautaro and Nico Gonzalez together with Messi and Julian Alvarez. Romero goes to play center forward and reopens the match with a header, Messi makes up for his mistake from the spot and scores the 2-2, Enzo Fernandez collects a cross from Lautaro with his head and makes it 3-2. Albiceleste Triumph, Messi top scorer with 8 goals, his fantastic story at the World Cup continues, but it was one step away from the final credits. Argentina dominated the game from the start, but Messi’s mistake from eleven meters shocked Scaloni’s team, which showed all its defensive limitations, especially on the outside where Molina and Tagliafico only think about attacking but cover little in the defensive phase. As Egypt surprised the world champions with speed and the reason for the cancellation of Zico’s goal remains to be understood, pa few minutes before the 2-0 scored by the same player.
Furious Egypt
At the end of the match Egypt’s anger exploded. Coach Hossam Hassan thundered: “Today it’s Egypt’s turn, who knows who will be next. This is precisely why the fans feel frustrated in front of the VAR. Instead of talking about Egypt’s splendid goal, everyone is discussing the referees. Decisions like this can change the entire course of a World Cup. I take responsibility and the consequences of what I say. This was a clearly conditioned match and everyone saw it. I don’t understand why they invite teams to participate if you want Argentina to win anyway. The referee was put under pressure, otherwise certain decisions cannot be explained. It’s a knockout match and they disallowed a very important goal for something that, in my opinion, doesn’t justify its annulment. Football is becoming obsessed with finding reasons to disallow goals instead of rewarding attacking play.” Zico is also furiousauthor of the temporary 2-0 for the Egyptians: “The referee was unfair, completely unfair. It was a clear injustice. He was clearly biased against us. We can’t leave like this while we were winning 2-0 against Argentina. The tournament was rigged, God punish him. Congratulations to Argentina for having already won the World Cup, it’s all planned.”
Switzerland on penalties
In the other round of 16, Switzerland and Colombia did not get hurt for 120 minutes and in the end the penalties rewarded the Swiss who will now face Argentina in the quarterfinals.
