‘Nobody gives you anything for free’: Lionel Messi applauds Cape Verde after Argentina’s escape | Football News
Argentina survived one of the biggest scares of the FIFA World Cup to beat Cape Verde 3-2 after extra time on Friday and book a place in the round of 16, with Lionel Messi praising the underdogs after they pushed the defending champions all the way.Tottenham defender Cristian Romero scored the winner in the 111th minute when his header from Messi’s corner took a deflection off Cape Verde defender Diney Borges before going into the net.Messi had opened the scoring with his 20th FIFA World Cup goal, extending his tournament record. Lisandro MartÃnez then put Argentina back in front in stoppage time of regulation after Cape Verde had equalised. The African side struck again in extra time before Romero’s effort settled the match.The result sent Argentina into the round of 16 for the sixth straight World Cup, but only after Cape Verde came close to producing one of the biggest upsets in the tournament’s history.Messi said his team had to fight until the end to get through.“As this team has demonstrated many times, and as I’ve said many times, it competes,” Messi said in Spanish. “And we competed to the end.”Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni also praised Cape Verde for the challenge they posed.“I have to give credit to our opponents,” Scaloni said. “The truth is, when people say there’s no such thing as an easy opponent, today (Cape Verde) proved they’re a great team.”Messi said Argentina knew before the match that Cape Verde would not be easy to beat, pointing to their results earlier in the tournament.“We knew it was going to be a very tough match; this team hadn’t lost to Spain and Uruguay for a reason. We did the hardest part, which was finding the first goal,” Messi said. “We thought that from then on, we would start to find our game and be more relaxed, but it was the complete opposite. We lost the ball, we sat back, we couldn’t pressure them well, and they struck with their strengths. We knew it was going to be difficult; this is a knockout tournament, and nobody gives you anything for free.“Cape Verde’s run at the 2026 World Cup ended after a campaign that made history. With a population of around 525,000, the island nation became the smallest country to reach the knockout stage of the tournament.Led by 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha, Cape Verde had already surprised many by drawing with former champions Spain and Uruguay, as well as Saudi Arabia, before taking Argentina into extra time in the round of 32.
