The giant stadium screens showed Lionel Messi looking up in despair. Argentina, the defending champions, trailed Egypt 2-0 with less than 20 minutes left. The greatest player of his generation—some would say any generation—appeared to be watching his World Cup dream slip away.
But then, something magical happened.
The 39-year-old football legend pulled Argentina up from the edge of defeat, scoring and setting up goals to complete one of the World Cup's greatest ever comebacks. Argentina beat Egypt 3-2 in Atlanta, coming from two goals down to win in the final moments.
"That was incredible. Spectacular. Argentina were down and out," said former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson, who was watching the match. "They were out of the tournament at one point."
Egypt had taken the lead through Yasser Ibrahim and Mostafa Zico, and their goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir was having an outstanding game—saving Messi's first-half penalty, the fourth of eight spot-kicks Messi has failed to score at World Cups. (A spot-kick is when a player kicks the ball from a marked spot, alone against the goalkeeper, usually after a foul.) The miss made Messi the only player—excluding shootouts—to fail two penalties in a single World Cup.
With only 11 minutes remaining, Messi delivered a beautiful cross—curved and spinning just right—for Cristiano Romero to head into the net. Four minutes and 18 seconds later, Messi struck again, slamming a left-footed shot high past Shobeir and in off the crossbar. Then, in stoppage time, Enzo Fernandez headed home the winner.
From tears to triumph, Messi's teammates lifted him high into the air in front of Argentina's celebrating fans.
The comeback had huge implications. England had been hoping Egypt might eliminate Argentina, clearing the path to their first World Cup final since 1966. Instead, Messi and Argentina march on, now facing Switzerland or Colombia in the quarter-finals.
Messi proved once more that age is just a number. He is now the first player in World Cup history to score in six consecutive knockout-phase games and has eight goals in just five matches this tournament—the most by any player in the opening five games since Gerd Muller scored 10 goals in 1970. In his last nine World Cup matches, Messi has directly contributed to 16 goals (13 scored, 3 assists).