World Cup: Holders Argentina advance to the Round of 16 despite Cape Verde's resistence

World Cup: Holders Argentina advance to the Round of 16 despite Cape Verde's resistenceCape Verde produced one of the most remarkable performances by an underdog at the World Cup, despite falling short at the end against three-time winners Argentina. Lionel Scaloni's team won the rollercoaster tie 3-2 after 120 minutes.

>Vozinha and Cape Verde started the game with utmost confidence, but the inevitable happened right after the first hydration break. Lionel Messi scored his 20th World Cup goal with two sublime touches of the ball after Lisandro Martinez’s lobbed pass.

>Everyone expected the reigning champions to stretch their lead further, but Cape Verde stunned the whole world at the hour mark. Dutch-born Deroy Duarte scored his first-ever international goal to tie the score for the debutants.

>Vozinha’s fame continued to rise after their equalizer as the 40-year-old made several decent stops to force an extra-time. However, Argentina took the lead at the start of the 30 minutes, with Lisandro Martinez adding a goal to his earlier assist.

>That still didn’t stop Cape Verde from dreaming of what seemed unthinkable at the start, though. Sidny Lopes Cabral, who was playing 3. Liga football as early as 2024/25 with Viktoria Köln, canceled Argentina’s advantage with one of the goals of the tournament just before the second-half of the extra-time.

>Trabzonspor’s Cabral, who was also born in the Netherlands, also played two seasons in Germany’s fourth-tier Rot-Weiß Erfurt. After the short break, the holders took the lead once again with Cristian Romero’s header from Lionel Messi’s set-piece ending up in the net after an impactful intervention from Diney Borges.

>At first, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner seemed to tie West Germany’s Fritz Walter with his ninth World Cup assist, but it was eventually given as an own-goal. The 1954 winner registered his assists in only two tournaments. Cape Verde still threatened to equalize for the third time, but Emiliano Martinez denied Cabral a spectacular free-kick goal.

>Exquiel Palacios was an unused substitute for La Albiceleste, while former Stuttgart attacker Nicolás González came on for his third appearance of the tournament. Cape Verde won plenty of applause for going toe-to-toe with the defending champions.

>Argentina will face Egypt in the Round of 16 in a game that will be dominated by the storyline of a meeting of superstars, Lionel Messi and Mohamed Salah. Luis Diaz’s Colombia face Ghana shortly in the last Round of 32 tie as the winners set to play against Switzerland.