Key events<\/p>\n
75 min: Gonzalez hooks in from the left. Lautaro Martinez sticks out a leg and diverts the ball harmlessly wide right.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n 73 min: The game restarts. Argentina<\/a> have swapped Molina for Montiel. \u201cGod has made it clear he hates VAR,\u201d claims Evan Crocker.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 71 min: \u2026 and that\u2019s drinks. Goodness knows Argentina<\/a> need one. Something perhaps stronger than the \u201ctea, coffee and fresh juices\u201d offered by Egypt.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 69 min: Hassan, Salah and Zico have been immense today \u2026 and that was their reward. What a combo! \u201cI just wonder whether an envy-ridden Cristiano Ronaldo is in a hotel room somewhere sticking pins into a voodoo doll of Leo Messi,\u201d writes Colum Fordham. \u201cNothing else would explain why La Pulga is playing so poorly (by his lofty standards) today.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a>GOAL! Argentina 0-2 Egypt (Zico 67)<\/p>\n Zico scores again, and this time it\u2019ll count! From the Argentinian corner, Salah streaks off on the counter. He drives at Romero, then feeds Hassan on the right. Hassan zips past Molina, reaches the byline, and cuts back for Zico who slams home from six yards! The shock is really on now!<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a013.32 EDT<\/p>\n 66 min: De Paul crosses long from the left. Zico, under no pressure, chests behind for a corner. Before it can be taken, Lautaro Martinez and Gonzalez come on for De Paul and Tagliafico.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 64 min: If that doesn\u2019t wake Argentina<\/a> up from their sleepwalking, nothing will. They continue to press Egypt back, but the red shirts hold their shape. \u201cMaybe, if Argentina lose, Fifa will insist on Messi playing for one of the teams in the final? With a few Americans to keep Trump happy?\u201d Shh, David Marriott, for goodness sake, don\u2019t be giving Gianni any ideas.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 62 min: A huge let-off for Argentina<\/a>, who were absolutely shredded on the counter there. But a free kick\u2019s a free kick. That\u2019s got the crowd going, though. Some atmosphere now.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>NO GOAL! Argentina 0-1 Egypt<\/p>\n Ah shame. VAR intervenes. At the start of the move, deep in the Egyptian half, Attia tugged at Lisandro Martinez and stood on his foot. It\u2019s a free kick. The correct decision, but heartbreak for Egypt, who \u201cscored\u201d one of the great counter-attack goals.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a013.27 EDT<\/p>\n GOAL! Argentina 0-2 Egypt (Zico 58)<\/p>\n A man named after a great Brazilian might have just knocked Argentina<\/a> out of the World Cup! Hassan dances his way elegantly down the right. He cuts infield and feeds Salah, who slips the ball into the box for Zico, coming in from the left. Zico gets there ahead of Emi Martinez, and whips past the keeper and into the net! Wow!<\/p>\n Egypt\u2019s Mostafa Zico dinks the ball over Emi Martine and into the net Photograph: Omar Aziz\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a013.31 EDT<\/p>\n 57 min: Tagliafico curls a cross in from the left. That\u2019s easy for Shobeir. \u201cI do love it when an Englishman or woman (it\u2019s never a woman) indulges in some getting ahead of themselves such as, say, saying that England\u2019s path to the final is pre-ordained,\u201d writes Niall Mullen. \u201cEven if tongue-in-cheek it not only throws yet more wood onto the inevitable celtic schadenfreude bonfire but also throws banana peels all along the path they wish to walk.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 56 min: Messi is stopped wandering down the right by Fathy. Free kick. Argentina<\/a> don\u2019t bother to put the set piece into the box. This might not be the time to get too cute.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 54 min: Egypt are keeping the world champions at arm\u2019s length right now. They\u2019ll be delighted. At some point, Argentina<\/a> will have to take it up a couple of notches, because time will become a serious issue for them soon.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 52 min: Nothing comes of the resulting free kick, so the karma has levelled itself out.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 51 min: Argentina<\/a> pass and probe. Then Paredes lets the ball roll under his foot, and Salah is away! But the referee blows up for a very soft free kick. Salah would have had 80 yards to run, to be fair, so would probably have been caught. But he\u2019d have at least launched a counter.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 50 min: Hassan dribbles hard down the right and wins a throw deep in Argentina<\/a> territory. If nothing else, he\u2019s just given his defenders a rest.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 49 min: Mac Allister finds Alvarez in space down the middle. Alvarez shuttles the ball on to Messi on his right. Messi is clear, but facing a tight angle. He eventually runs out of space. Goal kick.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 47 min: Messi dribbles across the face of the Egypt box, left to right, and rolls a pass towards De Paul, who dribbles a weak shot straight at Shobeir. Not particularly convincing.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 46 min: Within seconds of the restart, Messi has the chance to slip Alvarez away down the inside-right channel, but his pass is intercepted. \u201cEgypt are pretty damn adept at defending a 1-0 lead,\u201d notes Ian Copestake. \u201cIs kinda what they ate for. Argentina<\/a> don\u2019t realise the web they are caught in.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Egypt get the second half started. They\u2019ve made one change at the break, replacing the injured Ashour with Fathy.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Half-time postbag: bonus track. \u201cWasn\u2019t it Dennis Bergkamp who famously stopped taking penalties after a heartbreaking miss?\u201d begins Russell Eberts. \u201cMessi has missed 33 of his 116 penalties, a success rate of 72% (including friendlies). Bergkamp took 22, and missed three (86%), so it\u2019s not the best sample size comparison, but, with apologies to everyone who doesn\u2019t want to hear his name again, Cristiano Ronaldo has missed 36 in 186 attempts, a success rate of 80%.<\/p>\n \u201cMessi\u2019s Argentina<\/a> teammates have the following success rates:<\/p>\n Julian Alvarez has made 15 out of 17 (88%) \u201cAs someone who is hoping Argentina gets knocked out of the World Cup<\/a> sooner rather than later, I hope Messi continues to take them!\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Half-time postbag. \u201cSurely Egypt can\u2019t go on defending this deeply, especially since they keep giving up chances. Eventually one of the many excellent Argentine forwards will put one past Oufa Shobeir. The Pharaohs need to go on the attack, at least every once in a while\u201d \u2013 K\u00e1ri Tulinius<\/p>\n \u201cScaloni might usefully recommend to his players that they don\u2019t aim directly at the opposing goalkeeper whenever they have a chance to score. Do I get my coaching badge now?\u201d \u2013 Colin Livingstone<\/p>\n \u201cBeing a \u2018great\u2019 player or striker doesn\u2019t necessarily mean you should be the first pick for penalties. It\u2019s a role for a specialist. Some of the best have been defenders, such as Ronald Koeman, Leighton Baines and Graham Alexander\u201d \u2013 Andrew Goudie<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019d be very interesting to see who would take the next penalty for Argentina<\/a>, with Messi now having missed two at this World Cup (and four \u2013 four! \u2013 at all World Cups). Will Argentina contract a dose of Ronaldoitis or will footballing sense prevail?\u201d Justin Kavanagh<\/p>\n \u201cCape Verde would have played better than this. Only saying\u201d \u2013 Alexandra Fullerton<\/p>\n \u201cIf this keeps up maybe Infantino will call Trump and get Shobeir deported\u201d \u2013 Chris Rodgers<\/p>\n \u201cEngland\u2019s path to glory is starting to look pre-ordained. As I\u2019m sure all England fans will agree, nothing can go wrong now!\u201d \u2013 Matt Emerson<\/p>\n Share<\/a>HALF TIME: Argentina 0-1 Egypt<\/p>\n Argentina trail at the break in a World Cup match for the first time since the days of Paul the Octopus.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 45 min +4: Rabia recovers and play restarts.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 45 min +3: Rabia goes up for a high ball and lands flat on his back. He\u2019s winded. Play stops so he can recover.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 45 min +2: Parades floats a diagonal ball into the box from the left. Messi nearly gets on the end of it \u2026 but his nemesis Shobeir comes off his line to claim. \u201cAll I can say is that, if this result holds, it won\u2019t go down well with Fifa,\u201d predicts David Marriott.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 45 min +1: The first of five additional first-half minutes.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 45 min: Romero slides in on Salah, and now he\u2019s a bit fortunate not to go into the book. A fussier referee might have flashed a couple of yellows here, but this one\u2019s keeping everyone happy enough and the match ticking on nicely.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 44 min: Messi is clipped in midfield and, after a pause, the whistle goes. Salah, who was preparing to launch a counter, flings the ball away in irritation. The referee treats him very kindly and merely wags his finger.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 43 min: Tagliafico is getting a lot of joy down the left. He cuts inside and tries to tee up Alvarez, who can\u2019t get a first-time shot away. Passes are exchanged with Messi, and Alvarez then blazes over the bar from the edge of the box. \u201cMessi may be one of the greatest players of all time, but there is more than enough evidence to show he is a below average penalty taker,\u201d writes Shaun Wilkinson. \u201cCan nobody in the Argentina<\/a> camp grow a spine and take him off them?\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 41 min: The resulting corner comes in from the right. Messi with the delivery. Tagliafico flicks it on at the near post \u2026 but there\u2019s nobody racing in at the back. Goal kick.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 40 min: A long pass down the inside-left channel for Tagliafico, who extends a leg to hook into the middle for Alvarez. The striker opens his body and powerfully sidefoots towards the bottom right. It should be a picture-book goal \u2026 but Shobeir extends fully to stick out a strong hand and turn around the post! What a goal that would have been! What a save!<\/p>\n Egypt’s keeper Mostafa Shoubir is more than equal to the shot by Argentina’s Julian Alvarez. Photograph: Paul Childs\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.49 EDT<\/p>\n 38 min: Messi channels his inner Hafez and skies a long-range shot. A penalty miss, a post hit, and now that uncharacteristically witless blooter. It\u2019s not been his day so far.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 37 min: Argentina<\/a> pass it around to little effect. Egypt look reasonably comfortable at the moment.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 35 min: Hafez tries a shot from 35 yards. There\u2019s ambition, and there\u2019s ambition. The shot flies about 35 yards wide right, and rises to a similar height.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 33 min: Salah sticks out a foot and catches Alvarez with his studs. Not the greatest challenge but it\u2019s only a free kick. \u201cArgentina\u2019s president Milei is going to need to phone a friend,\u201d suggests Justin Kavanagh.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 31 min: Mac Allister turns Ashour, 30 yards out, just to the left of centre. and that\u2019s a free kick in a dangerous position. Messi whips it towards the top-left corner \u2026 and off the outside of the post! The referee awards a corner, but VAR gets involved to do right by Egypt.<\/p>\n Egypt\u2019s Mostafa Shoubir fails to save a free-kick from Argentina\u2019s Lionel Messi and was reiieved to see it go just wide of the upright. Photograph: Marco Bello\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.47 EDT<\/p>\n 29 min: Argentina<\/a> move up a gear. De Paul crosses from the right; Mac Allister should really score from six yards with his header. But it\u2019s straight at the keeper and parried. Then Fernandez takes a shot from the edge of the box, but that\u2019s blocked as well.<\/p>\n Egypt’s keeper Mostafa Shoubir saves a header from Argentina’s Alexis Mac Allister. Photograph: Marco Bello\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.43 EDT<\/p>\n 28 min: \u2026 and consider. If he\u2019d converted all of his World Cup<\/a> spot kicks, Messi would be miles ahead at the top of the all-time scoring list. He tops it anyway, with 20 goals to Kylian Mbapp\u00e9\u2019s 19, but with a better record from 12 yards, he\u2019d be a dot on the horizon.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 27 min: The game restarts.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 26 min: According to ITV, Lionel Messi has just become the first player to miss two penalties at the same World Cup<\/a> (not counting shootouts), having already missed one against Austria. Football is such a weird sport sometimes.<\/p>\n
Enzo Fernandez has made 10 out of 11 (91%)
Alexis Mac Allister has made 11 out of 12 (92%)
Leandro Paredes has made 14 out of 15 (93%)<\/p>\n