Day 23: Cape Verde take Argentina to the brink as Egypt and Switzerland make history

Some tournament days hand you one story. Friday handed us three — and one of them might just be the story of the whole World Cup.

The round of 32 rolled on across three time zones, and it produced a study in contrasts. In Vancouver, Switzerland were ruthless and efficient, ending a curse that had lasted the best part of a century. In Dallas, Egypt and Australia grappled to a standstill before the Pharaohs held their nerve from twelve yards. And in Miami, the smallest nation ever to reach a World Cup knockout round pushed the reigning champions to the edge of the abyss — and very nearly over it. For the full grid and the group tables that got everyone here, the schedule has you covered, and live scores are always at whatsthescore.football.

Switzerland 2-0 Algeria: an 88-year itch, finally scratched

The kindest word for it is “comfortable.” Switzerland beat Algeria 2-0 at BC Place to claim their first World Cup knockout win since 1938 — a wait of 88 years, stretching back to a victory over Germany in a pre-group-stage era, as BBC Sport and FotMob both noted.

Johan Manzambi lit the fuse. The Freiburg forward skipped past his marker down the left and rolled a cutback into the path of Breel Embolo, who steered home inside ten minutes. Then, seconds after the interval, Denis Zakaria intercepted an Algerian pass, the ball broke to Dan Ndoye, and the Nottingham Forest winger picked out the bottom corner. Two touches of quality, essentially, and the tie was done — Switzerland’s first multi-goal knockout display since a 7-5 loss to Austria back in 1954, per the BBC.

The subplot was irresistible. Algeria are coached by Vladimir Petkovic, the man who ran the Swiss national team for seven years to 2021 and once handed Embolo his tournament debut — a reunion previewed at length by TSN and Reuters. “He’s a coach who knows me very well,” Embolo said beforehand, promising to “go and say hi to him after the match.” He then scored the goal that beat him. Football rarely writes it that neatly.

Granit Xhaka, now at Sunderland, marked his 150th cap by bossing midfield, and only a mishit Fabian Rieder sitter — to the visible relief of Algeria keeper Luca Zidane — kept the score down. Riyad Mahrez’s men, back at a World Cup for the first time since 2014, go home still chasing a first knockout victory. Murat Yakin’s Switzerland march on to a fourth straight round of 16, where the winner of Colombia and Ghana awaits on 7 July, again in Vancouver.

Australia 1-1 Egypt (Egypt win 4-2 on penalties): the Pharaohs break new ground

For 120 minutes at the air-conditioned AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Australia and Egypt could not be separated — and neither had ever won a men’s World Cup knockout tie. Something had to give, and after a 1-1 draw it gave in the cruellest currency of all: penalties, which Egypt won 4-2 to reach the last 16 for the first time in their history.

Emam Ashour headed the Pharaohs in front on 13 minutes, nodding in Karim Hafez’s cross after a clever free-kick routine — a strike ESPN logged as the 250th goal of this World Cup. Australia, who managed only two goals in the entire group phase, hauled themselves level in the 55th with a bit of Egyptian charity: Aiden O’Neill’s inswinging free-kick was glanced into his own net by Mohamed Hany — the defender’s second own goal of the tournament, per beIN Sports, and it came after he’d earlier taken a blow to the head.

Extra time settled nothing, so out came the goalkeepers’ gamble. Socceroos boss Tony Popovic hauled off starter Patrick Beach and threw on the vastly experienced Mathew Ryan specifically for the shootout. It backfired. Harry Souttar blazed the opening kick over the bar, Egypt calmly converted all four of theirs, and 18-year-old Lucas Herrington — Australia’s youngest-ever starter in a knockout game — clipped the crossbar. Hossam Abdelmaguid rolled in the decisive spot-kick.

The image of the night, though, was Mohamed Salah. Nursing a hamstring scare and largely quiet in open play, Egypt’s captain dinked a Panenka straight down the middle for his penalty — then dissolved into tears at the final whistle. “If somebody was going to do it, it would be me,” he told ESPN. “I decided last minute, I had to do it… I’m happy that we wrote history today.” Australia, meanwhile, have now failed to advance in all three World Cup knockout ties they’ve ever contested. Egypt’s reward is a last-16 date that writes itself.

Argentina 3-2 Cape Verde (after extra time): the great escape

Where to begin. Argentina 3-2 Cape Verde at a heaving Hard Rock Stadium in Miami — 64,478 in, per Sky Sports — was a World Cup classic, and for long stretches it threatened to become the biggest upset the tournament has ever seen. The world’s No. 1 side against the No. 67; the reigning champions against a nation of half a million people, the lowest-ranked team ever to reach the knockouts. It should have been routine. It was anything but — one of the great World Cup nights.

Lionel Messi did his bit, curling in his seventh goal of the tournament (per ESPN) on 29 minutes. Normal service — until Deroy Duarte squeezed an equaliser into the far corner just before the hour and silenced the Argentine hordes. Emiliano Martínez’s goal led a charmed life; at the other end, Cape Verde keeper Vozinha made eight saves to drag the tie to extra time.

Then it truly caught fire. Three minutes into the extra period, Lisandro Martínez whipped one into the top corner to make it 2-1 and, surely, end the resistance. Instead, in the 103rd minute, full-back Sidny Lopes Cabral cut inside and bent an outrageous strike into the far angle — arguably the goal of the tournament — to level it at 2-2 and stun the footballing world. Cape Verde, using the sixth substitution the knockout rounds allow, were somehow ahead of schedule for a shootout.

Argentina’s escape hatch came off a set piece: Messi’s corner, a Cristian Romero header, a wicked deflection off Diney Borges, and the ball trickled in as an own goal on 111 minutes. Even then Cape Verde would not lie down, and it took a stunning last-gasp Emiliano Martínez save from a Cabral free-kick to finally seal it. “Cape Verde have lost, but they’ve won,” former Scotland striker James McFadden told BBC Radio 5 Live. “The story of this tournament is Cape Verde.” Coach Pedro “Bubista” Leitão Brito, whose side held Spain and drew all three group games to get here, summed it up: “We may be a small country, but we can play against the best teams in the world. We made history.” Gary Neville, watching for ITV, called it one of the greatest underdog performances he had ever seen. Nobody’s asking where Cape Verde is on the map any more.

Standings and what’s next

With Day 23 done, the last-16 picture is filling in fast — and the bracket has already served up a blockbuster. Egypt’s reward for their shootout nerve is Messi’s Argentina, a Salah-versus-Messi collision that would have sounded fanciful a fortnight ago and is now very real. Switzerland, meanwhile, wait on the Colombia–Ghana tie to learn their round-of-16 opponent, with that meeting pencilled in for 7 July back at BC Place.

The wider read: the giants are advancing, but nobody is strolling. Argentina needed 120 minutes and an own goal to see off the smallest nation in the draw; Egypt needed a shootout to shake a shot-shy Australia. In a 48-team World Cup where the knockout format leaves no margin, that’s the jeopardy the expanded field promised. Keep an eye on the live scores — the last 16 is where it gets serious.

Sources

Switzerland 2-0 Algeria

Australia 1-1 Egypt (Egypt win 4-2 on penalties)

Argentina 3-2 Cape Verde (after extra time)