Match report
Argentina complete stunning comeback to sink Egypt 3-2 in Round of 16 thriller
Argentina staged a dramatic late fightback to beat Egypt 3-2 in the World Cup Round of 16 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, overturning a two-goal deficit in the closing stages of a match that looked to be slipping away from them at half-time.
AI-assisted match report written from official match data.
Egypt led through Y. Ibrahim's 15th-minute finish, assisted by M. Attia, and doubled their advantage in the 67th minute when M. Ziko converted a chance created by Haissem Hassan. Argentina had dominated for long spells without reward until Cristian Romero pulled a goal back in the 79th minute, finishing off a pass from Lionel Messi.
The comeback gathered pace four minutes later as Messi himself levelled, teed up by G. Montiel, before Enzo Fernández struck in the second minute of stoppage time, set up by Lautaro Martínez, to complete the turnaround and send Argentina through with a 3-2 victory.
Argentina's control of possession, 64 percent to Egypt's 36, and their 19 shots to Egypt's five underlined how much of the game they dominated territorially, even as they trailed for long periods before finding a route back into the contest late on.
Messi scored once and set up another as Argentina turned the match around, finishing with a rating of 9.0 for his contribution to the comeback.
Argentina's 2.9 expected goals compared with Egypt's 0.97 reflected how much of the sustained attacking threat came from the eventual winners despite their slow start.
Argentina beat Egypt 3–2 (half-time 0–1).
Argentina met Egypt in the World Cup (Round of 16). Kick-off was Tuesday, 7 July 2026, 16:00 UTC at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Referee: Francois Letexier.
Key moments
- 15' Goal: Yasser Ibrahim (assist: Marwan Attia) — 0–1 · Watch Yasser Ibrahim's goal video (15')
- 67' Goal: Mostafa Ziko (assist: Haissem Hassan) — 0–2 · Watch Mostafa Ziko's goal video (67')
- 79' Goal: Cristian Romero (assist: Lionel Messi) — 1–2 · Watch Cristian Romero's goal video (79')
- 83' Goal: Lionel Messi (assist: Gonzalo Montiel) — 2–2 · Watch Lionel Messi's goal video (83')
- 90+2' Goal: Enzo Fernández (assist: Lautaro Martínez) — 3–2 · Watch Enzo Fernández's goal video (90+2')
Starting line-ups
Argentina (4-1-3-2)
Egypt (4-4-2)
- 23 Mostafa Shobeir
- 15 Karim Hafez
- 5 Rami Rabia
- 2 Yasser Ibrahim
- 3 Mohamed Hany
- 8 Emam Ashour
- 19 Marwan Attia
- 17 Mohanad Lasheen
- 12 Haissem Hassan
- 11 M. Ziko
- 10 Mohamed Salah (c)
Sirius · Why these numbers
Before kick-off Sirius gave Argentina 72%, the draw 18%, Egypt 10%. It finished Argentina 3–2 Egypt.
Argentina's rating gap decides it on neutral ground — Argentina are clearly the stronger side on our strength rating, and that is most of Argentina's 72%. The draw at 18% is lifted by neutral ground.
Why Argentina at 72%?
Argentina sit 398 points higher on our strength rating — 2143 to 1745. Sides with a more than 300-point rating edge at home won 80.0% of 4,592 such games.
Why not higher?
World Cup is played on neutral grounds: Argentina are the listed home side but get none of the usual home lift, so the class read is re-centred. On grounds we detect as neutral, listed-home sides won 44.6% of 26,567 games vs 45.2% at real homes — so a tournament game away from a side's own ground scores the class edge venue-free, as the average of the home and away reads.
Why is the draw only 18%?
With a rating gap this size the draw starts at 13.6%. These teams' recent games average 2.1 goals — a low-scoring environment. Games in that environment drew 28.2% of 17,990. Neutral ground adds 2.5 points to the draw. The goals environment adds 2.2 points to the draw.
What did we measure but not count?
Argentina's last five: W-W-W-D — clearly the hotter side on recent results. Between equals, recent form told us almost nothing: the home side won 44.9% of 2191 games when clearly hotter and 43.0% of 4012 when clearly colder. Argentina have played 3+ games in the last two weeks; their opponents haven't. Between equals, congested home sides won 46.8% of 2403 measured games and congested visitors 28.2% of 2447 — the cells disagree with each other and with the flat rest table, so schedule stays a watch item at 0 points. The other measured facts on this page scored nothing either.
Sirius probabilities, frozen at kick-off. Analysis, not betting advice. How Sirius is doing this season · Full breakdown, evidence cards and squad news in the Match Insights tab
What the press said
🚨🚨 OFFICIAL: ARGENTINA ELIMINATE EGYPT AND FLY TO WORLD CUP QUARTER FINALS! 💥🇦🇷 Epic comeback from 0-2 and pass for the quarter finals under Leo Messi’s lead. 🌎 https://t.co/VUpXfI6oZh
☝🏼✨ OFFICIAL: Leo Messi, Man of the Match for Argentina vs Egypt. https://t.co/CIkj3iqIkZ
🚨🚨🇦🇷 ARGENTINA COMEBACK IN 13 MINS AND FLY TO WORLD CUP QUARTER FINALS! Egypt with a game for the history books and a beautiful World Cup campaign. 👏🏼🇪🇬 Who’s been your Man of the Match? https://t.co/ySfh2JBG6t
Argentina come from 2-0 down with 11 minutes left to beat Egypt 3-2 and reach the QFs. Enzo Fernandez with the injury-time winner. Lionel Messi also among the scorers. Now nine straight World Cup games he has scored in, and 125 goals for Argentina.🇦🇷 https://t.co/BAKJpDvAwg
Stunning late comeback from a Messi inspired Argentina who looked down and out. Showed why they’re world champions, but Egypt understandably aggrieved. Some big decisions went against them.
About this match
On this page: the Argentina vs Egypt final score and result, goal highlights and video clips of every goal, who scored, starting lineups, match stats and the full match report from this World Cup fixture.
- Who scored and when — a goal-by-goal timeline of the match.
- Match stats — possession, shots, expected goals (xG), corners and cards.
- Starting lineups and player ratings for both teams.
- Head-to-head record and recent form for both sides.
- Watch Yasser Ibrahim's goal against Argentina (15').
- Watch Mostafa Ziko's goal against Argentina (67').
- Watch Cristian Romero's goal against Egypt (79').
- Watch Lionel Messi's goal against Egypt (83').
- Watch Enzo Fernández's goal against Egypt (90+2').
Watch the goals: goal highlights and video clips of every goal from Argentina 3–2 Egypt. Explore more on the Argentina and Egypt team pages or the World Cup page.