Argentina Defeat Egypt in the Round of 16 | LIVE Reaction | ESPN FC

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[music] [music] [music] >> ESPN FC Live is presented by Colorguard Plus. Argentina are through to the quarter finals of the World Cup. Just. [cheering] They were 2-0 down against Egypt with 11 minutes remaining, but three incredible goals see Lionel Messi's side advance. Egypt are out. What a game. >> What a tournament this is turning out to be. Welcome in to our ESPN FC studios. I'm Dan Thomas. Hercules Gomez, Shaka Hislop, and Frank Leboeuf with us. >> Whatever you want to call me. >> I've called him a lot. I've called him a lot over the last couple of weeks. >> [laughter] >> Uh how do we even start with this game? Uh Argentina going in as favorites, of course. Egypt had never made it uh past this stage before in the history of the World Cup. But it would be Egypt who would take the lead. 15 minutes in, a great header from Ibrahim would make it 1-0. Argentina then turned up the pressure. They won a penalty in the 21st minute, but for the second time this tournament, Lionel Messi would miss a spot kick. Egypt's goalkeeper stood on his head in the first half making some great saves. But then, Egypt would make it 2-0. However, the goal would be chalked off for a foul that happened deep in the Argentina half. Fast forward. 10 minutes later, Egypt score once again. This one does count to make it 2-0. You look then that Argentina are going out, but they score three in the remaining 11 minutes of the tie. Romero, then Lionel Messi, of course, and then it's Enzo who is the hero for Argentina as they go through. Colin Udoh joins us. We'll be hearing Colin's views from an Egyptian point of view in a moment, but let's start off, Frank, with this game overall. Fair play to Argentina cuz we had written them off. >> Indeed. Indeed. And that's the second time that they react like that and they show strength, spirit, and beliefs. And that's exceptional. Well, I think I'm pretty sure you cannot find any Hollywood movie who can represent the kind of suspense we had again today. But I think exceptional is why we love football. I feel for for the Egyptian population, the fans, and the and the players must be awful right now. But that's part of what we we have known all of us playing the the the the the soccer is sometimes everything goes for you and sometimes, you know, you have a a reverse of situation and the and the and it's hard. But what a game, what a suspense, and what an ending. Yes, that was great and I Yeah, Messi missed the the penalty, but he scored an important goal today. >> It was an incredible game for a neutral. Imagine having a horse in this race. Well, Kevin Egan knows it well. He joins us now. But both sets of fans, but it's the Argentina fans, Kevin, who are most definitely now the most vocal. >> Oh, done. Welcome steps from Atlanta Stadium. As you can see, WHO WON THE GAME TODAY? >> [cheering] [laughter] >> THIS GUY HOPES THAT ENGLAND actually goes through. Norway is a big problem for him. WHEN ARGENTINA COMES BACK TO ATLANTA, IT'LL BE A BIG PROBLEM FOR ENGLAND. YOU BETTER WATCH OUT. IT'S THREE LIONS THOMAS HOSTING. HE'S FROM ENGLAND. THE THREE LIONS WILL NEVER COME HOME. You'll They'll get a CHANCE AGAIN CUZ ARGENTINA HAS GOT TO WIN THE THIRD WORLD CUP. >> THESE GUYS ARE RELIEVED HERE TODAY. Big sense of relief here in downtown Atlanta. And they're having fun. I feel for Egypt. CAME SO CLOSE IN THIS GAME. But man, the champions are enjoying this moment, Dan. >> Uh yeah, most definitely so. And I imagine, Kevin, it's a party that's going to go long into the night now. >> [screaming] >> I certainly hope SO. ALL WE NEED IS STEVIE NICOL AT THE BAR. WE'LL GRAB MESSI and Stevie [laughter] and you all too. Yeah, they're they're having fun. They're having fun here. BUT THEY HAVEN'T REALLY BEEN TESTED LIKE THIS IN THIS WORLD CUP. Côte d'Ivoire OBVIOUSLY CAME CLOSE. BUT HERE TODAY, this was a massive scare. IT COULD HAVE BEEN 3-0 on another day had the result or the decision gone their way. But this is a an incredible atmosphere. >> [laughter] >> And they're walking toward him to get their lager. >> You tested [laughter] my patience. >> All right, thank you very much. >> Thank goodness we're not with them. >> [laughter] >> Okay. >> Uh this is a >> performance once again which leaves us a lot of questions about Argentina, but ultimately, Shaka, they win. >> Yeah, because they have Lionel Messi. And when you have that little guy, you almost are guaranteed a a get-out-of-jail-free card, or or so it seems. A lot of questions about Argentina otherwise. Um I will I will say though, the better of the two teams won. Uh Argentina were were better than Egypt. The difference uh of this game not being over after 30 minutes, 45 minutes was was the Argentinian goalkeeper and the Egyptian goalkeeper, Shabir, who in a tournament of goalkeepers, I do not think I've seen a better first-half performance um in in this tournament. That was the difference between Egypt and Argentina. Then, you get the breaks that that you want. It's about how well you defend that. And to Egypt's credit, I thought they were simply outstanding, putting their bodies on the line, making blocks when they needed. But there was always that opportunity for that little blind-side runner. And Argen- Argentina tried it all day long. Egypt were able to get in the way for most of them, but you just felt as this game went on, as tired legs started to take a toll, one or two of those balls would would find their way through. In the end, it was just a deep searching cross that Romero got his head to that kind of broke Egyptian spirits. But from there on in, you kind of felt that Argentina had it in them to come back and at at the least push it to extra time. In the end, they they won it in the 90th. >> As if Cristiano Ronaldo's last 24 hours couldn't get any worse. >> [laughter] >> And what WAS THIS ABOUT RONALDO? >> BECAUSE >> [laughter] >> HE WAS SAT in his kitchen and showed >> And that's the crazy part here, Dan. And you start off this game with Messi and a penalty kick and and he misses. His sec- second penalty kick missed in this World Cup and you're thinking, "Wow, maybe this isn't going to go Argentina's way." And then you see that off a set piece, Egypt takes the lead. Lisandro Martínez gets caught. Uh he gets beat goal side. It's a beautiful goal. And now Egypt is in control. In control in the way they want. They want to defend and they want to try to pick Argentina apart on the counter. And then the second goal comes in. Beautiful by Mohamed Salah, you know, being being strong in the moment when Paredes wants to push him. Uh he slips the ball in. It's a goal. It's 2-0. And then the goal gets called back. And I understand the moment the referee goes to >> the second goal. They were still 2-0 up. >> They they were they were still good. It's about momentum here. It's about momentum. >> disagree. I think at 2-0 >> You can disagree, but it's >> You're 2-0 with 20 minutes to go. >> It doesn't It doesn't I don't Look, I understand where you want to drive this conversation, but I don't think that's the conversation >> for now. >> I get to where the conversation needs to go. But it's about momentum. You think you have Argentina >> But you're 2-0 up still. You have got them on the ropes. >> You don't even You don't even cuz they have the best player who's ever played the game. >> So regardless if that goal was given or not. >> No, because it's about momentum. >> see the relevance. >> Because it is relevant. Because if you go up 2-0 in that moment, if you don't have that goal all the way up there >> minutes later? >> what I'm saying. It's momentum. You have Argentina and they are down. Argentina now thinks they can't come back in this game. And then you have a player like Lionel Messi. The The ball Montiel gives him is not an easy finish. And he puts it in between traffic, strikes it well, and they're tied. And then you have a player like Cuti Romero who's a center-back who's got two goals, decisive goals in this tournament in decisive moments. And then you have a player like Lautaro Martínez who comes into this game serves a perfect ball to of all people Enzo Fernández to finish this game off when Egypt thought they had them. If you can get them in that moment, it's a crushing lethal blow and you don't have it. So, you extend this game and Argentina never feels out of this game. Not when they missed the penalty kick by Messi, not when they were down by two goals, not when they were level. They always felt they had the game winner in them. And Egypt couldn't manage that. They couldn't manage that emotion against what I thought was a team they had, they equaled. But you can't equal Messi. 39 years of age, he misses two penalty kicks in this tournament and he's still sitting at what now? Eight goals? It's not supposed to be like that. I'm sorry. You're You're not supposed to be 39 years of age and do these things at the World Cup, do these things against any team and yet here he is doing it. Argentina is in this position still alive because of Messi. >> Yeah, but I mean, you you lead 2-0 like 15 minutes before the end. I mean, that's unthinkable if you do the thing right that you they're going to they're going to catch you back and and win that game. I mean, Egypt are lacking of something. Maybe some experiences, maybe some talented players, but I don't think so. I think they were talented enough to avoid that kind of scenario for me. >> they played to their ceiling. They played it perfectly. You just >> Well, the last No, but you cannot say for 80 minutes, yes, but for the last 10 minutes plus over time extra time, they were very naive. You have to do all use all the tricks and we all know in football that you can it's possible to gain times and to and to make sure that everybody gets very nervous in the Argentinian side to to to to to to avoid that kind of turn and that and that's for me unbearable and again, I feel for them for the players, but they have to take responsibilities for what happened. He's not only Messi, but if you break the game, if you make more foul, if you start, you know, goalkeeper getting the ball saying on the floor, we all know that, you know, and we saw Paraguay being experts of that. But that's part of the game, too. And they they let it go. They tried to defend in a proper way and they've been caught and that's it's not the first goal disallowed or the second goal that he said they scored would change anything. It's for me the behavior that they had or they lacked for the for for the past the last 50 minutes of the game. >> I talked to you about Messi, Frank. >> Uh Messi, well, the penalty and that's the only thing maybe I can teach to Messi something to Messi Messi about. >> this turn into you? >> [laughter] >> Because I I shot 56 penalties in my career and I only missed four. But because that's the that was the worst of the worst. I say with the talent that he has, it's impossible to shoot a penalty like that. That's crazy. For me that's crazy. That's in the gloves area and that's that's that's not what I I'm expecting from Messi, but otherwise and I was saying that to Xhaka after the game, it's with I don't see the difference between Messi at 25 and Messi now at 39 when he has the ball in his in his in his feet. His his sharpness, his skill and and his pace with the within the ball is exceptional and he stays the same. That's that's there is no explanations or rational explanations for that for me. The guy is is just a genius. >> Xhaka. >> It's it's kind of ridiculous to witness what Lionel Messi is doing right now. Um so much of his career you can describe with that same adjective. That what he's do is what he's doing on the ball, absolutely ridiculous. You're not seeing anybody else in the history of the game be able to do um to do similarly. Now at 39, he is still conducting games. He's still determining the outcomes of games [music] at at on the highest level. Um this should not Biology says this should not happen. Um in in all honesty. Um but and again, I hold my hands up. Coming into this tournament, my question around Argentina was, could Lionel Messi at 39 years old be the player that they need him to be to go deep in this tournament? And again, biology says no. I said no. Lionel Messi continues to to prove me and Father Time wrong. Let's be honest. You can make the argument that this is a very average Argentina team without Lionel Messi. All of a sudden, you stick one player in to a team game of 11 and it transforms from a very average team to current world champions potentially looking to to double down on that. That's the difference that this one man is making in a team game at 39 years old when 99% of players retire. >> Um our AFCON expert, Colin Udoh, joins us. Colin, before we talk about Egypt's performance, I'm maybe a little naive, as Frank said, just uh give me your thoughts on Lionel Messi. >> Look, everybody say I think he's a cheat code. There's There's no question about it. He's just an absolute cheat code because without Messi, Egypt win this game 3-4-0. But when you've got Messi on in the side, then even the opposition have to keep thinking about him, what he does, how where he's going to move, what he's going to do. And look, he's he's unbelievable. And I don't know if we're ever going to see the likes of Messi. I'm fortunate I don't know about many of you, but I'm fortunate to have watched um Maradona. I'm fortunate to have watched everybody else from that Maradona generation up until now, and it's kind of hard, you know, to think about when you look at the greats, Maradona, the Ronaldos, Ronaldinhos. I mean, you can call so many great names, and Messi just stands head and shoulders above everybody. >> Yeah, but when Excuse me, but when you see the cross from Lautaro Martinez, it has nothing to do with Messi. >> Yes. >> you have some talents as well. You know, it's it's it's just a the most beautiful cross I've ever seen in the last minute of the game. >> But take Take Messi out of this equation, and it's Cuti Romero with two goals. That's your offensive output for Argentina. I I agree with Shaq that I don't even know where this Argentina would be without Messi. >> Uh Colin, talk to us about Egypt. Obviously excited to get through to this stage of the competition. Were you surprised how good they are they were considering what we saw against Australia, and obviously how disappointed they're going to be that they got so close? >> I mean, personally, and all of Africa is surprised that it's it has taken Egypt this long, you know, to be this influential at the world stage. When you come to Africa, and I think almost everybody knows that Egypt have won the most African title of any team on the continent. They produce some of the greatest even Hector Cuper, coach. He's one of the greatest African players of all time. You look at Mohamed Salah. He's as great as they come. Mohamed Aboutrika. Egypt have produced player after player after player, but then they come to the World Cup, and for some reason, they always seem to falter. So, this World Cup was the World Cup where Egypt came and actually played, or at least showed us, you know, a glimpse of what Egypt really is that we have seen back home in Africa. It's unfortunate that, you know, somehow, they kind of like they could have topped the group, they did not. But, they've got here, and then they've come against them Argentina. They've gone toe-to-toe with Argentina. They've gone toe-to-toe with Messi. And, you know, they've come up with a lot of credit. Um, there a lot there's there's a lot we can say they could have done better. And I agree with a lot of what um, Frank has said. And um, Shaka, too, even though I don't want to agree with Shaka, but yeah, there's a lot that I agree with um, what has been said there in terms of what Egypt could have done better, especially towards the end. Um, we've got this perception that most teams feel that when it comes to this stage, they can get at African teams. And it might not be completely 100% true cuz I've looked at the stats, but there's that perception and it's there. The difference here was belief. Argentina from the start, even when they were one goal down, two goals down, they still believed they could go on and win this. Egypt, once that first goal went in, I think everything just kind of seemed to start falling apart. Now, unlike Cape Verde, and and and it's hard to say this because Cape Verde are supposed to be the new boys in town, but Cape Verde, even towards the end, they were still defending with in a very disciplined way, passing the ball, moving it, doing all the fouls and everything they needed to do, but Egypt just kind of lost it. Just started kicking the ball to everywhere. In Nigeria, we call it anywhere but left foot. Anywhere your stomach is pointed, you just kick the ball there. And that's what Egypt were doing towards the end. They didn't need to do that. They could have held on to some certain extent, but it is what it is. And I I I can tell you all of Africa is sad right now. >> And obviously, yeah, disappointing as well because we saw it in the Senegal tie. >> Well, look, Senegal, I I would say it's an aberration because under normal circumstances, Senegal could have held on, but all of the off-field issues that I and I I I think we we all heard about it. It came out later after the game, but all of those things contributed to Senegal being uh, to what happened to to to them late in the game where they kind of just kind of lost it. But, you know, a Senegal team that would that would have stayed focused without all the off-field distractions could have held out um, until the very end. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but like I said, you know, I mean, we have a whole Africa group on on WhatsApp and and everybody was rooting for Egypt. I'm telling you, and you know, everywhere it's like a graveyard in there right now. >> And now, just Morocco left. Easy game for them though, isn't it? >> Oh, very easy. Morocco should take care of business very easily. I'm done. >> [laughter] >> Let's talk later. >> I just want Morocco to get to the final and be the and win it for the first time for Africa. >> Uh let's talk about Argentina going forward now. Obviously, they're going to face the winners of Switzerland or Colombia. >> Yeah. >> How much is this team showing the grit and determination that shows that they can go all the way? Or how much is this team showing vulnerability? And when they come up against a proper side, they're going to be out. >> Well, it's hard to give an answer, but I I would say that they know they can go far. They know that they have extreme talent with Messi, and something special can happen. So, therefore, they they're going to believe until the last minute of every game that they can go through, and they can win a game. Now, we cannot deny the fact that they are in danger. At some point, they are in danger. They put themselves in danger, and we saw that many many times against Cape Verde, and and today against Egypt, where at some point it would be impossible to to to come back. So, whether it's going to be Colombia or or Switzerland, if it happens to with the same scenario, I have doubts that it would be possible for Argentina to come back like it's it's been possible against Cape Verde or or or or Egypt. So, they will have to be more consistent throughout the game that they play, the next game they play, and the and maybe the next one after that, especially if they're playing against England. Uh but uh I have doubts about that team going very far in that competition because of the lack of consistency that I see. >> Uh defensively, we've seen vulnerability, haven't we, from Argentina? Going forward, how do they solidify that? How do they address that? >> They're a very narrow team. That's where their strength is, in those midfielders. Enzo McAllister, but it was Paredes today. It's a t