Argentina Defeats Egypt 3-2 in World Cup Round of 16 After Trailing 2-0

Argentina defeated Egypt 3-2 in a FIFA World Cup round-of-16 match at Atlanta Stadium on Tuesday after trailing 2-0. Lionel Messi had a first-half penalty saved while his team was behind 1-0, then scored a late equalizer to complete the comeback. Egypt scored first and had a goal by Mostafa Zico ruled out by VAR for a foul on Lisandro Martinez.

Argentina mounted its rally in the second half, with the score still 1-0 at the 54th minute before Egypt extended the lead to 2-0. Argentina made three lineup changes for the match, bringing in Julián Alvarez, Nicolás Tagliafico and Leandro Paredes. Egypt made two changes and started Mohamed Salah after reaching the knockout stage for the first time by eliminating Australia on July 3 in Dallas.

Egypt coach Hossam Hassan said after the match that his side was "cheated" out of a place in the quarter-finals. "Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champions in the competition," he said. Hassan added that he would not continue following the remaining matches.

"I do not want to put it nicely and talk about hard luck," Hassan said. Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni stated on July 7 that the tournament had proven difficult for all teams.