Messi’s tears inspire Argentina to escape the surprise of Egypt

The heroic performance of the Egyptian national team against Argentina received widespread attention from the international media, following the match that brought them together yesterday in the round of 16 competitions of the 2026 World Cup, currently being held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Despite the exit of the “Pharaohs” from the tournament, the Egyptian team embarrassed the defending champion after taking a two-goal lead without a response, before Argentina succeeded in overturning the result during the decisive minutes, achieving a difficult victory with a score of 3-2 and booking the ticket to qualify for the quarter-finals.

International media unanimously agreed that the Egyptian team left the tournament with its head held high, having performed exceptionally well, and was moments away from producing one of the biggest surprises in World Cup history.

The Guardian newspaper headlined its report: “Messi’s tears inspire Argentina to a stunning escape against Egypt,” noting that the world champions were on the cusp of an early farewell to the tournament, before Lionel Messi led the “Tango” team to an exciting “remontada” in the final minutes, which ended with the winning goal in stoppage time.

For its part, The Telegraph newspaper described the match as the best in the tournament so far, due to the excitement it witnessed, the controversial arbitration decisions it witnessed, in addition to the drama that continued until the last moments.

The BBC wrote that Argentina “survived a new shock,” after it was a few minutes away from bidding farewell to the Egyptian team, noting that the “Pharaohs” were close to eliminating the world champions and writing a historical page in their participation in the World Cup.

The Spanish newspaper “Marca” praised the remarkable performance of the Egyptian national team goalkeeper, Mustafa Schubert, stressing that he was one of the most prominent stars of the match after he saved a penalty kick taken by Messi, and saved many opportunities, before Argentina succeeded in overturning the result during the last minutes.

Many international media outlets also shed light on the exciting refereeing cases that accompanied the match, as a number of former football stars, including Jamie Carragher and Alan Shearer, criticized the cancellation of the Egyptian national team’s second goal and the winning goal for Argentina, in light of demands to award a penalty kick to Mohamed Salah, which sparked a widespread wave of controversy and anger among the fans.