2026 FIFA World Cup: Round of 16 - Argentina vs. Egypt

Agree with all except that Tagliafico did quite a lot better than ok.

The team did great to get more agressive after going down but for a spell (~55-70 min) got way too careless, panicky with Paredes taking a ridiculous long shot and Licha way out of position dribbling players. Other than that it was not a bad match tactically.

Thought Scaloni's changes were good - Paredes did great as #5, Mac much better up front, overall team better without Almada despite Messi's performance drop. Scaloni made good subs as well, nothing that De Paul was tired and off, bringing Nico Gonzalez as wingback to go super expensive and his 2 strikers worked pretty well this time.

 

Licha had to push up. Had a brain storm. Nothing on Dibu there. You expect your defence to step up or clear the ball. Keepers have come out missed it and left an open goal.

 

Actually in the play he had broken up another potential counter. Just a few moments before in the play. He was fouled as well.

 

That was a crucial interception as was the pass to Tags for the Julian chance. It was Enzo who supplied Tags for the penalty.

But Paredes did as usual dither once or twice and was caught up the pitch. Had it not been blown a foul it was quite marginal Egypt would have been racing away again.

 

Thing is both did play up the pitch. But they often get ignored the ball returns to the middle. It's a bit infuriating.

The key switch is Messi going out wide Toro in the centre and from that we created the 2 goals and Messi looking like his 25 year old self setting up Toro.

But width is key against any low block side or bunkering side. Something Scaloni must take into account on Sunday Saturday for you guys.

 

He's been very good when it mattered for them this season. Some crucial saves. What has been the issue is shots from distance. He's not had that quick first push step to propel himself to the ball. I think he should have called up Neil Cutler the coach who really improved him and bring him over for a few sessions before the QF.

 

I think we just need a tactical switch and some player switches especially to keep some of the players fresh. We've several players who have barely played.

 

Licha all he needed to do was step up and it would have been offside.

Senesi is the obvious choice for his height, aerial command, passing ability and like Romero threat at setpieces. Unfortunately Scaloni seems to have blinkers on.

That Paz is just there to deputize for Messi.

That Senesi is just there to deputize for Romero.

The system exists to accommodate these players in a flexible attacking system and solid defensively too than what we have seen but he just won't do it. He still deserves immense criticism. How many more matches can we pull out like that ?

In all fairness we should not be struggling past sides like Cabo Verde or Egypt.

 

Can't these idiots recognize an AI picture when they see one ?

 

The myth making was already starting last night.

Apparently Egypt dominated the game......

They scored on a poorly defended cross and there other efforts were on the counter. Other than that they defended in depth.

Meanwhile that first half. Penalty miss, Alexis poorly placed header, great save from Julian. And then dominating possession and chances in the second half. But Egypt dominated ?

The era of fake news is well and truly here.

 

And the conspiracy theorists in their Mum's basements are already saying give the match to Morocco.

 

ESPNs VAR expert says the correct calls were made.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_...ed-card-penalty-handball-goal-line-technology

>>> A correct intervention by the VAR, and disallowing this goal was the right outcome.

The clear foul by Egypt's Attia had a direct impact on their ability to break away and score, leaving Argentina disadvantaged while in an attacking position.

The incident occurred high up the pitch and might cause some debate. However, when a foul of this nature occurs in the same phase and directly results in a goal, it must be disallowed. Once the referee was shown the pictures of a simultaneous shirt-hold and step on the foot, there was no chance he would stick with his original decision.

>>> In a difficult end to the match for both the referee and VAR, I am comfortable they were correct in both situations.

Mac Allister took a big risk when he grabbed Fathy's shirt off the ball. However, it was minimal, not sustained, and did not have a material impact on the attacker's ability to gain possession of the ball. This, in my opinion, did not meet the threshold for an impactful foul hold and a penalty kick.

Equally, the decision not to award Salah a penalty was a correct one. Salah tried to win a penalty as opposed to it being a foul challenge from Álvarez. In these situations, you are looking for a clear action by the opponent, and the dynamic of this contact was boot against boot, with Salah going to ground unnecessarily.

There will be comparisons with the foul that was awarded in the buildup to the Egypt goal. However, the key difference is that the earlier incident involved a defender's boot on an attacker's. The Salah incident, looked at in detail, is boot against boot, with both players' momentum creating the contact.

 

Its a foul because he got nutmegged by Licha and then reacted by pulling his shirt. Plain and simple.

 

Stepped on top of his foot too

 

Yeah and the Julian tackle on Salah was clean. Julian got the ball FIRST. I dont know why they even need to explain it.

Here's the exact moment Julian won the ball. When we scored against Switzerland in 2014, Palacio made very similar tackle.

 

This is a great analysis of the game of Egypt. If this was the thought process that Scaloni, I could understand where he is coming from.

However, think we have too many technical players in the team to the point where I feel that we can take off one technical player for a speedster like Giu Simeone or Nico G.

Let's talk about Argentina.

I haven't bought into the narrative that Argentina have been poor in attack. Today was another example of why.

Scaloni got the tactical approach right. The 4-4-2 diamond worked very well in the first half, allowing Argentina to progress consistently… pic.twitter.com/XcA3stP4KW

— Roger Bonet "Ruxi" (@Ruxiiii4) July 7, 2026

I do want to give him the credit of the in game management that he has done in moving Messi to the RW. That gave the team a whole different offensive dimension and who would have known a 39 year Messi would be dominant on the wing.

 

Wdym you are going to blame him for getting fouled? Of course he needs to go up since Mac was pretty much absent. Enzo just flashes. Paredes was playmaker and 5. Man if you really just wanted to go centrally them even then I would go Lo celso and Paz

 

This is just one thing they cried about. In real time, Alvarez just owned Salah took his ball and left him to cry.

The other one is Mac shirt "pull" on the egyptian who falls like he got snipered. You should see that one Mac barely caressed him lmao if that's a penalty then cancel football its over. We get a combo of argentina haters and Arab victim mentality

 

It was not him going him up. It was him dawdling on the ball making his mind up allowing the Egyptian player to close him and win the ball. That's what the issue is with him at times.

 

But Egypt dominated the game........​

 

Thats his playstyle, its called scanning the field. Thats how you get 97% passing accuracy

 

@Pekerman

The tackle was so iconic, the new york times writes a whole article dedicated to it.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/74...ntina-leandro-parede-iconic-world-cup-tackle/

 

Egypt "fair" challenges

Let this register

How dare he speak on those terms? Egypt received infinite "favors" from the referee.pic.twitter.com/ULVR0TWHIK

— Diego Laje, MA - DiegoReports (@dlaje) July 8, 2026