Argentina Edge Cape Verde 3-2 in Extra Time to Reach World Cup Round of 16

MIAMI GARDENS, Florida: Argentina had to dig deep yesterday before getting past Cape Verde 3-2 and moving on to the World Cup Round of 16, as the reigning champions were pushed hard by the tournament newcomers right down to the closing stages of extra time.

The winning moment arrived in the 111th minute when Cristian Romero got on the end of a header and the ball took a touch off Cape Verde's Diney Borges for an own-goal. Messi had opened the scoring in regulation with what was credited as his record-extending 20th career World Cup goal. That strike came in the 29th minute after Lisandro Martinez floated a pass over the top, Messi timed his run well, took a quick touch and blasted his finish into the roof of the net beyond goalkeeper Vozinha. Martinez later put Argentina back in front at 2-1 in the 103rd minute.

Cape Verde, though, kept answering. Sidny Lopes Cabral and Deroy Duarte both scored equalisers to silence a strongly pro-Argentina crowd in South Florida. Vozinha, now 40, was again a major reason the underdogs stayed alive, coming up with 10 saves in the match, including five from Messi.

Argentina's reward is a meeting with Egypt in Atlanta on Tuesday after Egypt beat Australia in a penalty shoot-out earlier Friday. Cape Verde's first World Cup campaign had already become one of the stories of the competition. Led by the standout form of Vozinha, the small island nation off Africa's west coast became the smallest country to make the knockout round after drawing with Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia. Messi now has seven goals in this tournament, one more than France's Kylian Mbappé in the Golden Boot race, and he has moved two goals clear of Mbappé on the all-time World Cup list with 12 goals during a record eight-match scoring streak.