Argentina was eight minutes from crashing out of the World Cup. Eight minutes from becoming the punchline of the entire tournament. Then Cristian Romero did what he does best — throw his body into the middle of chaos and come out with the ball in the net.
The defending champions beat Cape Verde 3-2 in extra time on Friday night in Miami, but that scoreline is misleading. This was an all-timer. A game that had everything: a Lionel Messi goal, a 40-year-old goalkeeper turning into a brick wall, two separate lead changes, and a moment of pure, desperate violence at a corner kick that saved Argentina’s title defense.
Messi Started the Party. Cape Verde Almost Ruined It.
Messi opened the scoring in the 29th minute with his trademark left-footed finish — his 20th career World Cup goal and his seventh of this tournament alone. That pulled him ahead of Kylian Mbappé in the Golden Boot race. It also extended his streak to eight straight World Cup games with a goal. Normal stuff for him.
But Cape Verde didn’t fold. Deroy Duarte equalized in the 59th minute, and for the rest of regulation, goalkeeper Vozinha — all 40 years of him — turned into the tournament’s most unlikely star. He stuffed a Messi free kick. He made save after save. Argentina looked frustrated. They looked tired. They looked like a team that might actually lose to the 67th-ranked team in the world.
Extra time came anyway.
The Swings Just Kept Coming
Lisandro Martinez headed in another Messi corner to put Argentina up 2-1 in the first half of extra time. That should have been it. But Sidny Lopes Cabral hit an absolute curler in the 103rd minute, and suddenly Argentina was back to square one. Stunned. Staring at penalties. Staring at the wrong kind of history.
That’s when Romero stepped up.
Messi swung the corner in. Romero rose higher than anyone had any right to. The header deflected off Cape Verde’s Diney Borges and over the line — officially an own goal, but everybody with eyes knows who made it happen. 3-2. 111th minute. Game over.
Cape Verde came within a few minutes of pulling off one of the biggest upsets the tournament has ever seen. Instead, they’ll go home as a footnote, and Argentina will move on to face Egypt in the Round of 16.
Messi and company are still alive. Still chasing back-to-back titles. Still finding ways to win ugly. That’s what champions do, right? Even when it looks like they’re about to fall apart.
Leave a Comment