Miami Gardens, Florida \u2014 Lionel Messi walked off the Hard Rock Stadium pitch with a World Cup goal, a trip to the round of 16, and a face that told a different story than the scoreline. Argentina had just needed extra time to see off Cape Verde, the smallest nation ever to reach the knockout stages of a World Cup, and the reigning champion wasn’t in the mood to pretend otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Today, we put in a huge effort, as always, playing well and playing badly, just like we always say,” Messi told reporters after the final whistle. It’s a line he’s used before, but on this night it carried more weight than usual. Argentina had led twice. Twice, Cape Verde clawed level. By the time the own goal that finally settled things went in, off Diney Borges in the second half of extra time, the Albiceleste bench looked more relieved than triumphant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For a team that hadn’t been pushed this close in a knockout match since the 2022 final against France, “many” problems is not a phrase to brush aside.A scare nobody saw coming<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On paper, this was supposed to be routine. Cape Verde \u2014 ranked 67th in the world, representing a nation of roughly half a million people \u2014 had already exceeded every reasonable expectation just by being in Miami. But the Blue Sharks didn’t show up to make up the numbers. Messi opened the scoring with a clean first-half finish, only for Deroy Duarte to drag Cape Verde level and send the match into extra time. Lisandro Mart\u00ednez restored the lead early in the additional 30 minutes, and it looked, briefly, like the contest was over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then Sidny Lopes Cabral happened. His curling strike from the edge of the box in the 103rd minute may end up as the single best goal of the tournament, and it silenced a stadium that had assumed the outcome was already decided. Only the own goal, created by a Cristian Romero header, finally ended Cape Verde’s remarkable run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Messi doesn’t sugarcoat it<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked to reflect on the win, Messi didn’t hide behind the result. “I think the important thing now is to rest, think about what’s coming next, and try to take positives from today’s game,” he said, before adding the line that’s now making headlines: Argentina did some good things, but there were plenty of bad ones to fix too \u2014 and by his own account, there were more of those than usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was also generous about the opponent, crediting Cape Verde’s unbeaten run through a group containing Spain and Uruguay as no accident. According to Messi, Argentina expected the game to open up once they scored first. Instead, the opposite happened \u2014 Cape Verde got stronger, not weaker, as the match wore on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What this means going forwardAdvancing to face Egypt in the round of 16, Argentina now has to figure out, quickly, what “many” actually means in practical terms. Was it fatigue? A lapse in concentration after each goal? Individual errors at the back? Messi wasn’t specific, and Scaloni made clear the details would stay in the dressing room. But the fact that a team chasing a fourth star was this open about its flaws \u2014 after a win, not a loss \u2014 says something about how seriously they’re taking the rest of this tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Manager Lionel Scaloni took a more guarded tone in his own press conference, saying he’d rather address the team’s shortcomings privately than air them in public. He did, however, echo the respect his captain showed for Cape Verde’s performance, congratulating them on a tournament debut few saw coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Argentina extended its winning streak to 11 matches, and Messi extended his own World Cup goal-scoring record to 20, two clear of Kylian Mbapp\u00e9. Statistically, this was another step toward another final. Emotionally, it felt like a warning shot the team fired at itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cape Verde, for their part, go home as one of the great stories of this World Cup \u2014 the smallest nation ever to reach the knockouts, eliminated only in extra time by the eventual champions of 2022. Nobody in that stadium on Friday night, least of all Messi, will forget how close it came to going the other way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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