World Cup Daily: Messi, Salah join stars in Round of 16 after tense matches

Two more global superstars will continue to exhibit their talents at the FIFA World Cup. 

Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Spain’s Lamine Yamal, France’s Kylian Mbappé and Norway’s Erling Haaland guaranteed their participation in the Round of 16 earlier this week following important wins by their respective nations. 

Lucky for soccer fans around the world that Lionel Messi and Mohamed Salah will join them after Argentina and Egypt survived tense contests on Friday, eventually prevailing in penalty shootouts. 

Star power is what drives interest in the sport, so it’s important to have the game’s very best involved in the final stages of the World Cup. 

Here’s what happened on Friday at the World Cup, in case you missed it.

THE RESULTS SO FAR 

Round of 32: Australia 1, Egypt 1 (4-2 PK shootout win) | Match report | Match stats 

Round of 32: Argentina 3, Cape Verde 2 in ET | Match report | Match stats 

STILL TO COME 

Round of 32: Colombia vs Ghana at 9:30 p.m. ET 

THE BIG TAKEAWAYS 

Argentina made to work for win over Cape Verde 

Argentina’s quest to become the first nation to repeat as World Cup champions in 64 years (and only the third country in the tournament’s history) remains intact following its victory over Cape Verde on Friday in Miami.

But it didn’t come easy for Lionel Messi and his cohorts, who were made to work to earn a slim 3-2 win in extra time, a game that reminded us all there are no free rides at the World Cup — not even for the defending champions.

Messi wrote his name into the history books once again with his opening goal that gave his country the lead in the first half. He’s the first player to score in eight consecutive World Cup matches, bringing his all-time tournament leading tally to 20.

Cape Verde refused to lie down and levelled the score in the second half, forcing the champions to play an extra 30 minutes. Once again the South Americans took the lead in the first period and looked to have finally killed off the game before the tiny African notched a second equalizer.

Messi’s corner kick resulted in an own goal in the 111th minute that gave Argentina a lead for the third time — an advantage it would not relinquish. Try as it might, Cape Verde couldn’t nick a third goal and bowed out of the tournament. But not without winning the admiration and respect of Argentina and the rest of the soccer world.

A historic win for Egypt 

Egypt continues to make history at this World Cup. 

Winless through their previous three appearances, the Egyptians recorded their first World Cup win in Vancouver during the group stage via a 3-1 victory over New Zealand. A first World Cup knockout victory followed on Friday in Dallas when the Pharaohs outlasted Australia in a dramatic shootout, converting all four of their attempts. 

This was a massive result for Egypt, who is historically the most successful nation on its continent with seven African Cup of Nations titles to its credit. But the Egyptians have never been able to translate continental supremacy into World Cup success, not even with Salah at the height of his powers. 

Salah has been criticized in the past for his inability to make a major impact for Egypt, and those criticisms will only grow louder after a rather forgetful showing against Australia. Salah did convert from the penalty spot during the shootout after the teams played to a 1-1 following 120 minutes, but he contributed very little else to the proceedings. If Egypt is to continue its World Cup journey beyond the round of 16, the former Liverpool star will have to offer his country a lot more in spearheading the attack. 

SAVE OF THE DAY 

Deep into injury time, Egypt came achingly close to netting the winner when Rami Rabia's powerful header off a cross into the box looked bound for the top of the net. But Australian goalkeeper Patrick Beach shifted his weight after originally moving to the right to leap up and tipped the ball over the crossbar with his left hand. A definite candidate for the save of the World Cup. 

GOAL OF THE DAY 

After a somewhat slow start, Argentina kicked it into high gear just before the half hour mark against Cape Verde. Lisandro Martinez floated a long ball into the box for Messi, who effortlessly glided by his defensive marker, controlled the ball with the outside of his left foot while in full stride and then stabbed the ball home into the near top corner. 

QUOTE OF THE DAY 

“Genius at work, that's all that is.” – Ally McCoist, former Scotland striker and current pundit for ITV in the United Kingdom, on Lionel Messi’s goal. 

STAT OF THE DAY 

Players at this World Cup are having a very hard time remembering what goal they’re supposed to score on.  

Egypt’s Mohamed Hany is the first player with two own goals in the same World Cup and it nearly cost his team today after scoring the equalizer for Australia. 

THREE STARS OF THE DAY 

1. Lionel Messi (Argentina): The mercurial wizard bagged his tournament-leading seventh goal and could have had more if not for running into a very hot goalkeeper. Also had a hand in setting up his country’s winner. 

2. Lisandro Martínez (Argentina): The Manchester United centre back played a sublime ball over the top to collect on Messi’s opener. Then he took matters into his own hands by scoring in injury time. 

3. Vozinha (Cape Verde): The veteran goalkeeper was kept very busy, making 10 saves, including a few on Messi, to push the reigning World Cup champions to the brink.