Lionel Messi and Argentina beat Cabo Verde 3-2 on Friday (July 3, 2026) and advanced to the World Cup Round of 16 in a thrilling match in which the tiny island nation challenged the reigning champion until the final minutes of extra time.

The go-ahead score for Argentina was credited as an own-goal after Cristian Romero’s header deflected off Cabo Verde’s Diney Borges in the 111th minute.

Argentina vs Cabo Verde, FIFA World Cup Highlights

Messi scored early in regulation, his record-extending 20th career World Cup goal. Lisandro Martinez scored in the 103rd to put Argentina ahead 2-1.

Sidny Lopes Cabral and Deroy Duarte scored for Cabo Verde — both equalisers that stunned the pro-Argentina crowd in South Florida.

Argentina advanced to face Egypt, which beat Australia in a penalty shootout earlier Friday, in Atlanta on Tuesday.

Cabo Verde’s dream run ends

Cabo Verde’s memorable World Cup debut had been a stunning run that few outside the tiny island nation off the western coast of Africa could have predicted.

Behind the stellar play of 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha, Cabo Verde became the smallest country to reach the knockout round, securing surprising draws against Spain and Uruguay and another against Saudi Arabia.

Vozinha had 10 saves against Argentina, including five against Messi.

Messi added another brilliant goal to his resume, sneaking behind the Cabo Verde defence on a well-timed run as Martinez lofted a pass toward him, taking a quick touch and hammering a finish into the roof of the net past goalkeeper Vozinha for a 1-0 lead in the 29th minute.

The Argentina captain has seven goals in this tournament — one more France’s Kylian Mbappe in the Golden Boot race as the top scorer in this year’s World Cup — and extended his World cup record, moving two goals ahead of Mbappé on the all-time list. He has 12 goals during his record eight-match scoring streak.

The script was written long ago — small island nation, eliminated at the group stage, goes home with a good story. Cape Verde has not read it.

Three games in at the 2026 World Cup, it is unbeaten, through to the knockouts, and nobody is quite sure what to expect from the African nation.

Cape Verde became a FIFA member in 1986. After failing to qualify for the 2002 extravaganza with a loss to Algeria in the Qualifiers, the country made steady progress.

Cape Verde attained its first AFCON qualification in 2013 and came close to sealing a World Cup berth in 2022, only to fall short at the final hurdle due to a last-game draw against Nigeria.

Four years later, it went one better — topping its CAF group ahead of Cameroon to book its tickets for the North American showpiece.

Cape Verde’s first test was against a Spanish side that had dismantled defences on the way to the EURO 2024 title. The Sharks held the Spaniards to a goalless draw through an exemplary display from their 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha. They then came from behind to hold Uruguay 2-2.

Saudi Arabia, too, could not find a way past the Cape Verde defence.

It now has a date with Lionel Messi’s Argentina in the round of 32. A year ago, that sentence would have read as fiction. However, Bubista’s men have spent the last three weeks making the football world question everything it thought it knew. Why stop now?