Lionel Messi leads Argentina to 3-2 comeback victory over Egypt and spot in World Cup quarterfinals

Li­onel Mes­si did it yet again at this year’s World Cup.

The Ar­genti­na great scored once while in­spir­ing his team to an im­prob­a­ble 3-2 vic­to­ry over Egypt on Tues­day de­spite trail­ing by two goals with on­ly 11 min­utes to play.

The de­fend­ing cham­pi­ons will next face ei­ther Switzer­land or Colom­bia in quar­ter­fi­nals on Sat­ur­day in Kansas City, Mis­souri.

Mes­si, who was in tears af­ter the fi­nal whis­tle, scored his eighth goal of this year’s tour­na­ment in the 83rd minute to lev­el the score at 2-2. It was his record-ex­tend­ing 21st at the World Cup.

En­zo Fer­nan­dez scored the win­ning goal in stop­page time to com­plete one of the great World Cup come­backs. Cris­t­ian Romero start­ed the ral­ly in the 79th minute.

Ar­genti­na had trailed 2-0 on goals from Yass­er Ibrahim and Mostafa Zi­co.

Mes­si al­so missed a chance in the first half when his penal­ty kick was saved by Egypt goal­keep­er Mostafa Shobeir. He lat­er hit the post when the score was 1-0.

Ar­genti­na is bid­ding to be­come the first team to win back-to-back ti­tles since Brazil did so in 1958 and 1962. —AT­LANTA (AP)

Sto­ry by JAMES ROB­SON | As­so­ci­at­ed Press