Argentina Survive Cape Verde Scare to Reach Last 16 After Extra-Time Thriller

Argentina survived one of the biggest scares in World Cup history, beating Cape Verde 3-2 after extra time in Miami to reach the last 16, where they will face Egypt in Atlanta on Tuesday 7 July.

A Diney Borges own goal in the 111th minute, after Cristian Romero's header deflected off the Cape Verde defender, finally ended a match that had the world champions on the ropes for large spells against opponents ranked 64th in the world.

Lionel Messi had given Argentina an early lead in the 29th minute, scoring his 20th World Cup goal to extend his own all-time record. The Argentina captain timed his run perfectly behind the Cape Verde defence, controlled Lisandro Martinez's lofted pass and hammered a finish into the roof of the net past goalkeeper Vozinha. He now has seven goals in the tournament, one ahead of France's Kylian Mbappe in the Golden Boot race.

Cape Verde refused to be overawed. Deroy Duarte pulled them level in the second half, powering a finish through Martinez's legs from a tight angle to send Cape Verde fans in the stadium into tears of joy. The score stayed at 1-1 after 90 minutes, forcing extra time.

Martinez thought he had won it for Argentina just two minutes into the additional period, latching onto Alexis Mac Allister's flick from a corner to produce a powerful finish past Vozinha. But Cape Verde had one more moment of magic in them. Sidny Lopes Cabral produced one of the goals of the tournament, cutting inside from the left and whipping a curling strike over Emiliano Martinez and into the top corner to make it 2-2 and stun the pro-Argentina crowd.

Cabral nearly forced penalties four minutes from the end of extra time, but Emiliano Martinez produced a stunning save to deny him, and the deflected own goal shortly after finally ended Cape Verde's extraordinary resistance.

Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who has been one of the stories of the tournament, made 10 saves against Argentina, five of them from Messi, in a performance that summed up Cape Verde's spirit throughout the competition. The tiny island nation had become the smallest country ever to reach a World Cup knockout round after claiming draws against Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia in the group stage.

Argentina dominated the statistics, finishing with 64% possession, over 800 completed passes at 92% accuracy and 20 shots to Cape Verde's 15. But Cape Verde's eight corners and two goals from limited chances showed how dangerous they were on the break and from set pieces.

Cape Verde leave the tournament with their heads held high after a debut run that few could have predicted. Argentina move on, but with plenty to think about ahead of their last-16 tie with Egypt.