Egypt has made two alterations to their lineup following their penalty shootout triumph over Australia. Haissem Hassan steps in for Omar Marmoush in the forward position, while Mohanad Lasheen is brought into the midfield, taking the place of Hamdy Fathy.
Argentina, fresh off a 3-2 extra-time win against Cape Verde, has implemented three changes to their starting eleven. Nicolás Tagliafico, Leandro Paredes, and Julian Alvarez will replace Facundo Medina, Thiago Almada, and Lautaro Martínez.
Here’s how Argentina will line up: Emiliano Martinez, Molina, Romero, Lisandro Martinez, Tagliafico, De Paul, Paredes, Mac Allister, Fernandez, Messi, and Alvarez. The substitutes include Musso, Rulli, Senesi, Montiel, Barco, Lo Celso, Palacios, Gonzalez, Almada, Simeone, Paz, Otamendi, Lopez, Lautaro Martinez, and Medina.
The Egyptian squad features: Shobeir, Hany, Rabia, Ibrahim, Hafez, Ashour, Attia, Lasheen, Hassan, Salah, and Ziko, with substitutes El Shenawy, Soliman, Mohamed Alaa, Abdelmaguid, Trezeguet, Abdelkarim, Fathy, Emad, Adel, Saber, Marmoush, Tarek Alaa, and Zizo.
The referee for the match will be Francois Letexier from France.
Historically, Argentina and Egypt have met only twice prior. The last encounter saw La Albiceleste achieve a 2-0 victory in a friendly match held in Cairo in 2008, with goals from Sergio Aguero and Nicolas Burdisso. Notably, Lionel Messi was sidelined due to injury during that game, rendering it somewhat irrelevant compared to their earlier meeting at the 1928 Olympic Games, which Argentina won decisively 6-0.
Egypt’s journey through the group stage was more challenging, featuring a hard-fought draw with Belgium, a victory over New Zealand, and a narrow draw with Iran.
After securing their first group game win at the World Cup, Egypt celebrated their first knockout round victory, which became memorable only when Mo Salah successfully executed a Power Panenka.
Argentina’s path to this point has been smoother. They navigated the group stage with ease, highlighted by Lionel Messi’s stellar performances in victories against Algeria, Austria, and Jordan.
Things became more complicated in the following round. Messi is undoubtedly a World Cup icon; however, Sidny Lopes Cabral has also carved out his own legendary status.
This match-up, framed as Messi against Salah, simplifies the complexities of the encounter. While many expect Argentina, led by Messi, to outperform Egypt, the recent match against Cape Verde serves as a reminder that nothing is certain.
Even though he wasn’t on the pitch, the underdog spirit from that day lingers. The odds favor Argentina setting up a quarter-final clash against either Switzerland or Colombia. However, the unpredictability of football means that the outcome is far from guaranteed. Kick-off is scheduled for 12pm EDT/5pm BST. Let the match begin!
- World Cup 2026
- World Cup
- Argentina
- Egypt football team
