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2 hours ago
5
Key events
57 min: Tagliafico curls a cross in from the left. That’s easy for Shobeir. “I do love it when an Englishman or woman (it’s never a woman) indulges in some getting ahead of themselves such as, say, saying that England’s path to the final is pre-ordained,” writes Niall Mullen. “Even 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.”
56 min: Messi is stopped wandering down the right by Fathy. Free kick. Argentina don’t bother to put the set piece into the box. This might not be the time to get too cute.
54 min: Egypt are keeping the world champions at arm’s length right now. They’ll be delighted. At some point, Argentina will have to take it up a couple of notches, because time will become a serious issue for them soon.
52 min: Nothing comes of the resulting free kick, so the karma has levelled itself out.
51 min: Argentina 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’d have at least launched a counter.
50 min: Hassan dribbles hard down the right and wins a throw deep in Argentina territory. If nothing else, he’s just given his defenders a rest.
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.
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.
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. “Egypt are pretty damn adept at defending a 1-0 lead,” notes Ian Copestake. “Is kinda what they ate for. Argentina don’t realise the web they are caught in.”
Egypt get the second half started. They’ve made one change at the break, replacing the injured Ashour with Fathy.
Half-time postbag: bonus track. “Wasn’t it Dennis Bergkamp who famously stopped taking penalties after a heartbreaking miss?” begins Russell Eberts. “Messi has missed 33 of his 116 penalties, a success rate of 72% (including friendlies). Bergkamp took 22, and missed three (86%), so it’s not the best sample size comparison, but, with apologies to everyone who doesn’t want to hear his name again, Cristiano Ronaldo has missed 36 in 186 attempts, a success rate of 80%.
“Messi’s Argentina teammates have the following success rates:
Julian Alvarez has made 15 out of 17 (88%)
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%)
“As someone who is hoping Argentina gets knocked out of the World Cup sooner rather than later, I hope Messi continues to take them!”
Half-time postbag. “Surely Egypt can’t 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” – Kári Tulinius
“Scaloni might usefully recommend to his players that they don’t aim directly at the opposing goalkeeper whenever they have a chance to score. Do I get my coaching badge now?” – Colin Livingstone
“Being a ‘great’ player or striker doesn’t necessarily mean you should be the first pick for penalties. It’s a role for a specialist. Some of the best have been defenders, such as Ronald Koeman, Leighton Baines and Graham Alexander” – Andrew Goudie
“It’d be very interesting to see who would take the next penalty for Argentina, with Messi now having missed two at this World Cup (and four – four! – at all World Cups). Will Argentina contract a dose of Ronaldoitis or will footballing sense prevail?” Justin Kavanagh
“Cape Verde would have played better than this. Only saying” – Alexandra Fullerton
“If this keeps up maybe Infantino will call Trump and get Shobeir deported” – Chris Rodgers
“England’s path to glory is starting to look pre-ordained. As I’m sure all England fans will agree, nothing can go wrong now!” – Matt Emerson
HALF TIME: Argentina 0-1 Egypt
Argentina trail at the break in a World Cup match for the first time since the days of Paul the Octopus.
45 min +4: Rabia recovers and play restarts.
45 min +3: Rabia goes up for a high ball and lands flat on his back. He’s winded. Play stops so he can recover.
45 min +2: Parades floats a diagonal ball into the box from the left. Messi nearly gets on the end of it … but his nemesis Shobeir comes off his line to claim. “All I can say is that, if this result holds, it won’t go down well with Fifa,” predicts David Marriott.
45 min +1: The first of five additional first-half minutes.
45 min: Romero slides in on Salah, and now he’s a bit fortunate not to go into the book. A fussier referee might have flashed a couple of yellows here, but this one’s keeping everyone happy enough and the match ticking on nicely.
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.
43 min: Tagliafico is getting a lot of joy down the left. He cuts inside and tries to tee up Alvarez, who can’t get a first-time shot away. Passes are exchanged with Messi, and Alvarez then blazes over the bar from the edge of the box. “Messi 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,” writes Shaun Wilkinson. “Can nobody in the Argentina camp grow a spine and take him off them?”
41 min: The resulting corner comes in from the right. Messi with the delivery. Tagliafico flicks it on at the near post … but there’s nobody racing in at the back. Goal kick.
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 … 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!
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’s not been his day so far.
37 min: Argentina pass it around to little effect. Egypt look reasonably comfortable at the moment.
35 min: Hafez tries a shot from 35 yards. There’s ambition, and there’s ambition. The shot flies about 35 yards wide right, and rises to a similar height.
33 min: Salah sticks out a foot and catches Alvarez with his studs. Not the greatest challenge but it’s only a free kick. “Argentina’s president Milei is going to need to phone a friend,” suggests Justin Kavanagh.
31 min: Mac Allister turns Ashour, 30 yards out, just to the left of centre. and that’s a free kick in a dangerous position. Messi whips it towards the top-left corner … and off the outside of the post! The referee awards a corner, but VAR gets involved to do right by Egypt.
29 min: Argentina move up a gear. De Paul crosses from the right; Mac Allister should really score from six yards with his header. But it’s straight at the keeper and parried. Then Fernandez takes a shot from the edge of the box, but that’s blocked as well.
28 min: … and consider. If he’d converted all of his World Cup 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 Mbappé’s 19, but with a better record from 12 yards, he’d be a dot on the horizon.
27 min: The game restarts.
26 min: According to ITV, Lionel Messi has just become the first player to miss two penalties at the same World Cup (not counting shootouts), having already missed one against Austria. Football is such a weird sport sometimes.
