Victory only in extra time: With effort and Messi: Argentina stops Cape Verde’s World Cup fairytale

Even the world champion Argentina needed 30 minutes of extra time in this memorable round of 16, the brilliant moments of their superstar and the tough qualities of a boxer to end Cape Verde’s World Cup fairytale with 3:2 (1:1, 1:0) after extra time.

“Congratulations to Cape Verde. They were a very tough opponent,” said Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni. “If you always say that there are no easy opponents, then this opponent proved it today.” This is “a great team. Cape Verde gave 200 percent today.”

20th World Cup goal for Messi

The Argentinians have won all of their last three major tournaments. There were a number of teams at the 2022 World Cup and at the South American Championships in 2019 and 2024 that literally gave way to Messi and Co. Not so Cape Verde. Not even in front of around 50,000 Argentine fans in the stadium in Messi’s adopted home of Miami, which was filled with 64,478 spectators.

In the 29th minute, the superstar scored his seventh goal at this tournament and his 20th overall at a World Cup. Everything seemed to be going as expected.

But after the break, Deroy Duarte (59th) punished the favorite’s passivity that kept creeping in for the first time this evening. The small island state came back again in extra time after Lisandro Martínez made it 2-1 (93′). Because Sidny Lopes Cabral, who played for Rot-Weiß Erfurt and Viktoria Köln in Germany’s fourth and third league from January 2022 to January 2025, scored a dream goal in the 103rd minute. The 23-year-old celebrated the moment so much that he climbed into the stands in the middle of extra time in a World Cup game.

Own goal decides crime

In the end, it wasn’t a solo run by Messi or any other stroke of world-class genius that sent Cape Verde out of the tournament and Argentina into the next knockout round against Egypt (Tuesday, 6 p.m. local time in Atlanta). It was – at least after a corner from Messi – an own goal from defender Diney Borgens. “The players hugged each other and cried. That also shows that the team has a soul,” said their coach Bubista.

The 56-year-old gave his last press conference at this World Cup. Afterwards, even the journalists applauded him and his team.

“I am very proud of what we showed in this tournament. We showed the world our identity,” said Bubista. “I can only thank our team for their efforts and for the heart they showed on the pitch. We may be a small country. But we can play against the best teams in the world.”

Messi: “There are no gifts here”

Two former world champions had already cut their teeth on the “Blue Sharks” before the Argentinians. “We knew they were a very strong team. They didn’t lose against Spain and Uruguay for nothing,” said Messi. “There are no gifts here. That’s what this World Cup is: everything is very balanced.” But the message is: “Even if we play badly, we will come back!”

It is already the sixth World Cup for the Inter Miami player. Messi knows exactly that no team, no matter how good it is, just walks through a tournament like this. See the German world champions from 2014 and their torment at that tournament in the round of 16 against Algeria. Or the Argentines themselves in 2022, when they gave up a 2-0 lead against the Netherlands in the last ten minutes and then needed the penalty shootout to reach the semi-finals.

“We were put to the test and prevailed,” said Lisandro Martínez afterwards. “The resilience of this team means: never give up, never let your head down.”