Argentina 3-2 Cabo Verde AET: the champions survive the scare of the tournament

[Cass93]

The holders are through but nobody in Argentina is sleeping well after that. Messi opened it on 29 minutes and it should have been routine, then Deroy Duarte levelled before the hour and the smallest nation at the tournament simply refused to go away. Lisandro Martinez thumped Argentina back ahead early in extra time, Sidny Cabral equalised AGAIN on 103, and the winner eight minutes later was initially given to Romero before being chalked up as a Cape Verde own goal, which is the cruellest possible way for their run to end

Twice Cape Verde erased a deficit against the world champions and they went home to almost nothing, no famous scalp, not even the consolation of the deciding goal belonging to an Argentine. Half a million people on those islands and they took the holders to the 111th minute of a World Cup knockout tie, whatever happens for the rest of this tournament that story stays

For Argentina the questions are real though. That is now consecutive knockout tournaments where they have made bafflingly hard work of opposition they should handle, the legs in midfield looked heavy long before extra time, and Messi at this stage of his career cannot be the emergency service every single round

So two questions for the board. Was that a champion team grinding out a win the way champions do, or the clearest sign yet that this Argentina side is running on fumes and reputation? And does anyone else think Cape Verde leave as the neutral's team of the round of 32?

[TheRizz00]

Champions win exactly these games, that is the entire definition. France won a World Cup with three performances like that, nobody remembers the wobbles, only the trophy

[BretHart_X]

Fumes and reputation for me. Watch the midfield in the second half, they could not press for more than five seconds at a time. A proper side punishes that long before penalties threaten

[Baz]

The own goal ruling is genuinely heartbreaking. Cabral's equaliser at 103 minutes deserved to be the story of the night and instead the record books give the winner to nobody at all

[TristanFenwick]

Cape Verde are absolutely the team of the round and it is not close. Population smaller than most host cities and they outplayed the champions for whole stretches

[Quarry92]

Lisandro Martinez scoring in extra time of a World Cup knockout after everything he has come back from is a subplot that deserved a better news cycle

[Distant Kernel]

The Messi dependency stat that matters, when he went quiet in the second half so did the entire team. One man as the whole ignition system at his age is terrifying if you are Argentine

[Hollow Tiger]

Devil's advocate on the panic, they created enough to win three games and hit the frame twice in normal time. Sometimes a scare is just variance, not a diagnosis

[Kieron83]

Variance twice a tournament every tournament stops being variance and starts being the pattern

[MJF]

Spare a thought for Vozinha in the Cape Verde goal, kept them in it for two hours and ends the night picking the winner out of his own net off a teammate

[TheLegendJohn32]

Whoever gets Argentina next will have watched that and fancied it. The aura took a dent last night whatever the scoreline says

[Max_42]

The abiding image for me was the Cape Verde fans still singing ten minutes after the whistle. Some exits are victories, football just refuses to score them that way