Cairo was fated but Buenos Aires wasn’t done yet

Sane wings were never there. With Leo’s Argentina, insanity had to prevail again, and it did.
The aftermath of an Egyptian scare saw a man who felt gutted for his penalty miss as tears rolled down his cheeks. Lionel Messi lives to fight another day. Argentina lives to fight another day.
“I cried because I was really frustrated because of the penalty I missed and the way I took it. I think if I had scored the penalty, the game would’ve gone differently, because we were playing well despite the goal they scored against us,” the left-footed magician said after the match.
Arguably one of the all-time best African forwards, Mohamed Salah was standing beside his nation’s unwavering success in this edition of the FIFA World Cup when he saw Egypt win the first knockout game in their history. But still, he couldn’t get his hands on the win on Tuesday after all, as the defending champions were too dominant in the final minutes. The comeback in the last quarter will surely boost the team’s confidence ahead of the Swiss clash in the quarter-finals.
It was an intimidating first hour of the game when Egypt flew past Argentina with two goals to nil under the closed roof of Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The dreams were brewing at the curvy alleys and dusty streets of Cairo as the ghost of Tutankhamun, probably in denial by then, was smiling at Argentina’s inability to penetrate the score line.
However, it was reminded by the Albiceleste that they are the world champions for a good reason. The comeback that didn’t see light until the 78th minute and was destined to be that way was rewritten by Lionel Scaloni’s men, who snatched an unimaginable turnaround from the jaws of defeat, Egypt and destiny. 
Messi, with a late screamer, equalised with a rather monotony that was becoming apparent at this point. The hurdle, chaos and the borderline tension resulted in the former FC Barcelona forward getting his eighth goal of this edition, taking the throne solely to himself again from Kylan Mbappe and Erling Haaland who are sitting at seven goals, after missing the second penalty of this tournament; a record he would like to forget quickly in the midst of all the great records beside his name.
It was soon becoming evident that Tutankhamun’s ghost did not have enough leverage to pull back the strings. Mostafa Shobeir was one of the trump cards, who denied the great Messi once from a spot kick but couldn’t capitalise moving forward when the final nail in the coffin came from a rather rare incident that sealed the deal for Argentina.
Enzo Fernandez, who scored only one header prior to the game against Egypt, went on to score the late winner, also with a header. A slow but seemingly calculated cross from Lautaro Martinez had only Enzo’s name written on it.
The streets shall remember how the odds were overturned, how the buried dreams were resurfaced and how a nation, on two tired feet, even after the establishment of everything impudent, stood with pure grit, unity and an irreversible passion for the game.