JAKARTA - Lionel Messi said Argentina has a lot of things to improve after a tense 3-2 victory over Cape Verde in the extra time on Saturday, July 4, 2026 WIB, at the Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida.
After the match, the Inter Miami megastar highlighted the Tango Team's shortcomings in the 32-team victory.
"Today, we put in a big effort, as usual, playing well and playing badly, as we always say."
"However, I think the important thing now is to rest, think about what comes next and try to take the positives from today's game."
"Beyond just qualifying, I think there are positive things because we did some good things. We also need to improve on the bad things, which I think happened a lot today," Messi said after the match.
Messi opened the scoring with a stunning goal, but Cape Verde equalized to take the game into extra time.
Argentina then briefly took the lead again, but Cape Verde equalized through a potential best goal of the 2026 World Cup from Sidny Lopes Cabral.
Fortunately, there was a Diney Borges own goal from Cape Verde who tried to repel Cristian Romero's header in a corner kick situation. The goal gave Argentina the lead which lasted until the end, taking them to the last 16 for the sixth time in a row at the World Cup.
Apart from that, Cape Verde made history at the 2026 World Cup by becoming the smallest country to reach the knockout stage of the tournament.
The country's population, 525,000, is less than the population of each of the 50 U.S. states.
Messi also heaped praise on the world's 67th-ranked team as he spoke of how Cape Verde frustrated Argentina throughout the match.
"We know this will be a very difficult match. This team is not inferior to Spain and Uruguay for a reason."
"We did the hardest part, which was scoring the first goal. We thought that from then on, we would start to find our game and be more relaxed, but it was the opposite."
"We lost the ball, we played defensively, we couldn't press them well. They attacked with their strength."
"We know it's going to be difficult. It's knockout and nobody gives anything away for free. We know it's not going to be easy at all and that's the essence of this World Cup."
"The matches are very balanced, very complicated, and every match will be very difficult," Messi said.
Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni added in a post-match news conference that he would discuss the shortcomings of the game with the players.
"There is no easy opponent. Congratulations to Cape Verde. I will talk to the players about the negative things, but we take the positive things, namely we never give up," said Scaloni.
With this victory, Argentina recorded the longest winning streak in the team's history, namely 11 wins.
Messi also extended his record as the top scorer in World Cup history with 20 goals - two more than Kylian Mbappe - with his first-half goal and scored in his eighth World Cup match which is a record streak.
The Argentina captain now has 12 goals in his last eight World Cup games.
Messi also leads the race for the Golden Boot at the 2026 World Cup with seven goals, one more than Mbappe.
Meanwhile, Argentina will face Egypt in the round of 16 on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta.
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