{"id":30585,"date":"2026-07-04T08:41:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T03:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/we-knew-this-would-be-a-very-tough-match-lionel-messi-admits-cabo-verde-pushed-argentina-to-the-limit-football-news\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T08:41:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T03:11:12","slug":"we-knew-this-would-be-a-very-tough-match-lionel-messi-admits-cabo-verde-pushed-argentina-to-the-limit-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/we-knew-this-would-be-a-very-tough-match-lionel-messi-admits-cabo-verde-pushed-argentina-to-the-limit-football-news\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;We knew this would be a very tough match&#8217;: Lionel Messi admits Cabo Verde pushed Argentina to the limit | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-132173846,imgsize-88850,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/cape-verde-argentina-wcup-soccer.jpg\" alt=\"'We knew this would be a very tough match': Lionel Messi admits Cabo Verde pushed Argentina to the limit\" title=\"Argentina's Lionel Messi applauds the crowd after the World Cup round of 32 soccer match against Cape Verde (AP Photo)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Ta7d_ img_cptn\"><span title=\"Argentina's Lionel Messi applauds the crowd after the World Cup round of 32 soccer match against Cape Verde (AP Photo)\">Argentina&#8217;s Lionel Messi applauds the crowd after the World Cup round of 32 soccer match against Cape Verde (AP Photo)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/lionel-messi\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">Lionel Messi<\/a> acknowledged the stern test posed by Cabo Verde after defending champions Argentina survived a dramatic scare to secure a 3-2 extra-time victory in the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 32.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"3\"\/>The reigning champions were pushed all the way by the tournament debutants in a gripping contest in Florida before eventually sealing their place in the last 16. Speaking after the match, Messi admitted Argentina had expected a difficult evening and praised Cabo Verde for their fearless display.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"6\"\/>&#8220;We knew this would be a very tough match. In the World Cup, no one gives you anything for free. Now it&#8217;s about resting, learning from today, and focusing on the next game. <!-- -->Also, congratulations to Cape Verde for that great performance,&#8221; Messi told the media after the win.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"11\"\/>Messi also highlighted Argentina&#8217;s fighting spirit after the team twice saw Cabo Verde draw level during an enthralling encounter.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"13\"\/>\u201cAs this team has demonstrated many times, and as I\u2019ve said many times, it competes,\u201d Messi said in Spanish. \u201cAnd we competed to the end.\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"15\"\/>Argentina looked to be in control after Messi opened the scoring in the 29th minute with his 20th career FIFA World Cup goal. Timing his run perfectly, the captain latched onto a lofted pass from Lisandro Martinez before firing into the roof of the net to give La Albiceleste the lead.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"19\"\/>However, Cabo Verde refused to back down. Sidny Lopes Cabral restored parity in regulation time before Lisandro Martinez put Argentina back in front early in extra time. The underdogs struck again through Deroy Duarte to make it 2-2, raising hopes of a famous upset.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"22\"\/>The decisive moment arrived in the 111th minute when Cristian Romero&#8217;s header deflected off Diney Borges and into the net for an own goal, sealing Argentina&#8217;s place in the Round of 16, where they will face Egypt.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"24\"\/>Despite the defeat, Cabo Verde earned widespread admiration for one of the finest underdog performances in recent World Cup history. Goalkeeper Vozinha made 10 saves, including five from Messi, as the tournament debutants once again showcased the resilience that had carried them through an impressive group-stage campaign.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"27\"\/>Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni also praised the African side after the final whistle.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"29\"\/>\u201cI have to give credit to our opponents,\u201d Scaloni said. \u201cThe truth is, when people say there\u2019s no such thing as an easy opponent, today (Cape Verde) proved they\u2019re a great team.\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"31\"\/>Messi&#8217;s goal also strengthened his bid for the Golden Boot. The Argentina captain now has seven goals in the tournament, one more than France&#8217;s Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, while extending his all-time FIFA World Cup scoring record. The strike also marked his 12th goal during his record-breaking run of scoring in eight consecutive World Cup matches.<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/football\/fifa-world-cup\/we-knew-this-would-be-a-very-tough-match-lionel-messi-admits-cabo-verde-pushed-argentina-to-the-limit\/articleshow\/132173553.cms\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Argentina&#8217;s Lionel Messi applauds the crowd after the World Cup round of 32 soccer match against Cape Verde (AP Photo) Lionel Messi acknowledged the stern test posed by Cabo Verde after defending champions Argentina survived a dramatic scare to secure a 3-2 extra-time victory in the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 32.The reigning champions [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}