Every episode of this soap opera needs a scene where the hero looks finished, and Atlanta delivered it in full. Egypt — playing with nothing to lose and everything to gain — went ahead in the 15th minute when Yasser Ibrahim rose to head in Marawan Attia's cross, then watched Lionel Messi step up six minutes later with a chance to level it from the penalty spot. Mostafa Shoubir guessed correctly and saved it, low to his left, Messi's second missed World Cup penalty in as many matches this tournament and the fourth of eight he has now missed across his career. Mercedes-Benz Stadium went quiet. Then it got quieter.
Egypt had a goal ruled out by VAR in the 58th minute — Mostafa Zico swept in a brilliant finish that would have made it 2-0, only for referee François Letexier to be sent to the monitor over a marginal challenge on Lisandro Martínez, 20 seconds earlier, in the buildup. Egypt were livid, and they had every right to feel it was harsh. It didn't matter for long: Zico got his goal anyway in the 67th minute, sweeping home Haissem Hassan's low cross to make it 2-0 and send Hossam Hassan's side to within roughly a quarter of an hour of the biggest result of his managerial career.
Then the eleven minutes happened. Messi, quiet and clearly rattled for the better part of an hour, delivered a pinpoint cross in the 79th minute for Cristian Romero to head home and cut the deficit to 2-1. Four minutes later, Messi himself found the net — a shot that rattled in off the crossbar — to level it at 2-2, running to the corner flag and pointing to the stands in what he later called "a huge release." And in the second minute of stoppage time, Enzo Fernández rose to head home the winner, 3-2, while Egypt's players were still appealing, unsuccessfully, for a VAR check on an Alexis Mac Allister shirt-pull in the build-up. Argentina, the reigning champions, were dead for 75 minutes and alive for the only ones that mattered.
Messi wept at the final whistle — "tears of relief more than joy," by his own admission — and was hoisted into the air by teammates who understand exactly how few of these nights he has left. "I was feeling intense anger because of the penalty I wasted... but fortunately, God had something special in store for me once again," Messi said afterward. Manager Lionel Scaloni, crying alongside him, added: "I don't know how many times you have this feeling of a team that never gives up in adversity, but that is this team." Egypt's Hossam Hassan was considerably less serene, accusing referee Letexier and FIFA itself of wanting "Messi to stay in the running," and confirming he told the referee he suspected he had "something to hide." It was, in every sense, the most Armchair Galáctico match of the tournament so far — brilliant, unjust-feeling, and settled by the man the script always seems to find.
The stoppage-time header that actually won the match, arriving after Messi did the romantic heavy lifting. Fernández gets the armband-worthy nod for finishing a comeback that felt, for 75 minutes, like it belonged to Egypt.