The world returned to Atlanta Tuesday, this time for a World Cup round of 16 showdown between the mighty Argentina and the scrappy Egypt. The incredibly close match between La Albiceleste and Cabo Verde was largely forgotten by Argentina fans, who brought every bit of Buenos Aires to the city of Atlanta as they prepared to watch Lionel Messi and company take on (free agent) Mo Salah. The moment also marked the return of one Thiago Almada to the stadium he once called home, while still the subject of a heated legal battle between Atlanta United and Botafogo. The atmosphere turned out to be one worthy of the Monumental, despite Egypt taking an early lead off a Yasser Ibrahim header. Here are the final whistle thoughts on a wild one live from Atlanta Stadium!
Lionel Messi and Argentina
This match certainly didn’t kick off the way Scaloni, Messi, or anyone wearing blue and white hoped. Argentina pressed for the early opener but never looked truly dangerous until after Egypt’s Yasser Ibrahim opened the scoring. Unfortunately, Messi would have his penalty attempt blocked moments later, and Mostafa Shobeir would block a point-blank range header shortly after that.
The fans, though, brought exactly the kind of atmosphere you’d expect of Argentina supporters. The chants were deafening, and they literally never sat down. That being said, even the blue and white kits were largely hushed after Egypt banged in the second one.
It was a day where Lionel Messi struggled to truly get going, until he finally did in the final ten minutes to pull the game back even at 2-2, which essentially restarted the entire day. The stadium exploded, and even half the press box was cheering. It’s just done differently with Argentina, because it all got elevated even more moments later when they hit the game winner. Just scenes.
Mo Salah and Egypt
While Mo Salah himself was largely a non-factor for Egypt in the first half, he performed the job of drawing the attention of Argentina’s backline admirably. More than once, it was his off-ball movement that opened up space for Mostafa Ziko. The entire Egyptian team, though, was very disciplined defensively, pinching in tight in front of their goal to limit space for Messi, de Paul, and others to operate.
Mostafa Shobeir, Egypt’s keeper, was absolutely phenomenal. He lit a fire under the Egyptian supporters when he saved Messi’s penalty attempt, bringing forth an energy that temporarily drowned out La Albiceleste’s majority crowd. The place erupted when everyone thought Egypt had made it 2-0 after a wild counterattack, but it was called back after VAR showed a foul in the early buildup.
It didn’t matter.
They’d hit an almost identical counter attack a few minutes later that was as clean as a whistle, with Mostafa Ziko drilling home another one after Mo Salah once again led the charge. It certainly wasn’t how anyone assumed this match would play out, but hey…it’s the World Cup. Then again, Argentina would find their way back into and ultimately make it 3-2 right at stoppage time, but what an amazing performance by Egypt.
Congratulations Argentina for pulling off yet another nail biter. It can’t be overstated how fortunate Atlanta has been with the quality and story lines of the matches that’ve been played here…and we still have one more to go. Let us know down below what you thought of the match!