Argentina 3-2 Egypt: FIFA World Cup Round of 16 Match Report

Argentina 3-2 Egypt, and a Round of 16 tie that Argentina had to turn around from a losing position. Egypt led 1-0 at half-time; Argentina scored three times after the break and conceded once more on the way through.

The half-time score is the part worth sitting with. Argentina had led at the interval in every match they had played to that point — 1-0 against Algeria, 1-0 against Austria, 2-0 up in Jordan, 1-0 against Cape Verde Islands in the Round of 32. Across the whole tournament, Egypt were the only side to go in ahead of them.

Three goals after the break is also the most Argentina managed in any single half of the competition; their group-stage second halves produced two, one and one. And it is the second consecutive knockout tie in which they conceded twice, four days after the 3-2 against Cape Verde Islands. Neither side had much recovery: both had played 120 minutes on 3 July.

Argentina won Group J with the maximum nine points — 3-0 against Algeria, 2-0 against Austria, 3-1 in Jordan. Eight scored and one conceded, and the only goal against them arrived in the final group match. The Round of 32 was the first sign of something else: 1-0 up at half-time against Cape Verde Islands, pegged back to 1-1 by ninety minutes, 3-2 after extra time.

Egypt qualified from Group G on five points, drawing 1-1 with Belgium, winning 3-1 in New Zealand and drawing 1-1 with Iran. Five scored, three conceded. They led Belgium at the break and were pulled back; the New Zealand match, where they trailed 1-0 at half-time, is the only one they turned around. They then held Australia 1-1 through 120 minutes in the Round of 32, again ahead at the interval, and won the shoot-out 4-2.

Leading at half-time in three of their five matches, and being eliminated anyway, is Egypt's tournament stated plainly.

Argentina went on to a quarter-final against Switzerland, 1-1 at ninety and 3-1 after extra time, then a 2-1 semi-final win over England from a goalless first half, then a final that was still 0-0 after ninety and lost 1-0 to Spain in the additional period.

Five knockout matches, and not one of them led by more than a single goal at ninety minutes; three needed 120. A side that swept its group without being seriously tested did not win a single knockout tie comfortably, and this was the second of them.

For Egypt, a Round of 16 exit from a winning position at half-time closes a campaign of one defeat in five matches and eight goals scored. They were beaten by the team that reached the final, and it took that team its highest-scoring half of the tournament.