When Argentina faced Cape Verde in a Round of 32 showdown, many expected a routine victory for the reigning world champions. But the tiny African island nation of just over half a million people refused to play the role of mere participants. Both sides were unbeaten, and La Albiceleste avoided a historic World Cup upset during their 2026 FIFA World Cup Round of 32 matchup. Their captain, Lionel Messi, broke multiple records on the night but knew it wasn’t a straightforward win.

“Honestly, we knew beforehand that the match would be extremely tough,” Messi said to the press. “And it’s no coincidence that this national team hasn’t lost to Spain or Uruguay. We managed to achieve the hardest part by scoring the first goal, and we thought that would help us impose our playing style and play with greater calm, but exactly the opposite happened.

“We lost possession in some periods, retreated a bit to the back, and failed to press them as required, and they exploited their weapon and scored. We knew the task would be complicated. These are knockout matches, and no one gives you anything for free. Some might underestimate national teams because of their names, but we knew it wouldn’t be an easy match at all”.

Argentina needed extra time to beat Cape Verde 3-2; despite the massive ranking gap, the underdog African nation put up a massive fight. To put Verde’s performance in perspective, Lionel Messi and Co. conceded just one goal in this year’s group stage action. Even during the 2022 WC, Argentina conceded two goals just three times in the tournament (Group stage vs Saudi Arabia, QF vs Netherlands, and Finals against France).

Lionel Messi opened the scoring in the first half with his seventh goal of the tournament. He became the first player (man or woman) to score 20 career WC goals. With his first knockout goal in the 2026 World Cup, the 39-year-old has 12 career goal contributions in the FIFA World Cup KO stage (6 goals, 6 assists), passing Pele and Kylian Mbappe. Yet, none of these were the headlines after the final whistle.

Cape Verde reached the knockout stage unbeaten in the group phase after holding Spain to a goalless draw, sharing the spoils with Uruguay, and securing another crucial point against Saudi Arabia. If Messi was Argentina’s inspiration, Verde goalkeeper Vozinha was unquestionably their hero.

The veteran shot-stopper frustrated the world champions with a string of outstanding saves, even denying Messi from a curling free-kick and producing several reflex stops to keep his side alive.

In ET, with Verde 2-1 down, Sidny Cabral’s breathtaking strike, which had an expected goal value of 0.03, will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the finest goals of the 2026 World Cup. But from a corner, Lionel Messi’s assist and unfortunate Diney Borges’ own goal in the 111th minute gave the defending champions the win. It wasn’t a straightforward victory, but now Argentina’s eyes are set on Egypt, who earlier today needed penalties to get past Australia.