World Cup: Jailbreak for Argentina on way to quarters, heartbreak for Egypt

Three goals in last 13 minutes – that’s what it took champions Argentina to come back from the dead and tame a resilient Egypt 3-2 in Miami and earn a spot in the World Cup quarter finals on Tuesday. The defending champions managed to stay in the hunt in their bid to become the first back-to-back champions since Brazil in 1958 and 1962, but not before giving their legion of supporters almost a heart attack.

 It looked that the mother of all upsets was on the cards when the Pharaohs, in their first-ever knockout campaign in the World Cup, were leading 2-0 with goals till the 78^th minute from Yasser Ibrahim and and Mostafa Zico at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It could have been 3-0 but a phenomenal solo effort from Mostafa Zico was disallowed after a retrospective foul at the point at the other end – a call by French referee Francois Letexier, whose supervision came repeatedly under the scanner for it's inconsistency.

 Leo Messi’s men – beefed up with multiple changes in the second half – were coming back hard at the Africans as the time ticked on. A minute lapse in concentration saw Cristian Romero firing in a header, before the master cannoned a volley off a loose ball to get two late goals in four minutes to get Argentina back into the game.

Enzo Fernandez then scored in stoppage time to give the Albiceleste an incredible 3-2 win over Egypt and a spot in the quarter finals – something which looked beyond reach even 15 minutes. The sense of relief was palpable in Messi and his teammates as the captain broke into tears after he was lifted in the air by jubilant teammates.

 The talismanic player is back again in the lead in the race for the Golden Boot with eight goals - including a hattrick - but more importantly, got a lifeline to stay deeper in the tournament. He earlier had his penalty shot parried away in the first half by goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir, who had a remarkable match - for his second miss from the spot in the tournament. Messi had earlier missed one in the league stages against Austria.