Lionel Messi is 39 years old, playing in what he’s called his last World Cup, and he just dropped seven goals in the group stage alone. But on Friday night in Miami, his Argentina team needed 120 minutes to put away Cape Verde — a team making its first Round of 32 appearance — and escape with a 3-2 win.
It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t dominant. And for a while, it looked like the defending champions might actually be heading home early.
Cape Verde came to play. They pressed high, they fought for every loose ball, and they made Argentina work for every inch of the pitch. The underdogs pushed the match into extra time before Messi and company finally pulled ahead. The final scoreline flattered Argentina more than the performance probably deserved.
But after the game, Messi wasn’t interested in talking about how close they came to disaster. He wanted to talk about what this team does when things get hard.
“We’re not just a group of individually outstanding players,” Messi said. “We are a cohesive team. This group fights and competes until the very last moment.”
He pointed to set pieces as the difference-maker. Argentina scored from dead-ball situations — something they’ve been working on for a long time, according to Messi. In a tight game where open play chances were hard to come by, those set-piece goals kept them alive.
“Today, set pieces played a very important role,” he said. “We have players who excel in aerial play — not just Cuti Romero or Lisandro Martínez or Nico González or Alexis Mac Allister. We have many players who dominate high balls, and today we succeeded in capitalizing on that.”
The fatigue factor
The win came at a cost. Argentina played 120 minutes of high-intensity soccer against a team that had nothing to lose and everything to gain. That’s going to show up in the next match.
Messi has been carrying this team on his shoulders — seven goals so far in this tournament, putting him at the top of the all-time scoring list for a single World Cup. But even he looked tired in the final stretch of extra time.
Argentina’s Round of 16 matchup against Egypt kicks off July 7 at 12 p.m. ET. That gives them less than 48 hours to recover. Not ideal.
If Argentina wants to make a real run at back-to-back titles, they’re going to need to find a way to win without needing extra time every single game. Cape Verde exposed some cracks in the armor — the midfield got overrun at times, the defense looked shaky on counters, and the team struggled to break down a disciplined low block.
But they’re still alive. And with Messi on the pitch, nobody’s counting them out.
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