Arlington, Texas - Over the course of a monumental Friday for the 2026 World Cup, Egypt managed to narrowly knock out Australia in penalties and Argentina reached the last 16 in a close match with Cape Verde.

Cape Verde rocked Lionel Messi's Argentina with two stunning equalizers to raise the prospect of pulling off one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history in Miami.

But a Diney Borges own goal, under pressure from Argentina's Cristian Romero, in the 111th minute finally broke Cape Verde's resistance and secured the South American country its expected spot in the top 16 with a 3–2 win.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said losing to Cape Verde "would have been madness," but admitted it was "a very tough match – you always have to take the positives – this team never gives up."

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"We have to congratulate the opponent; when people say there are no easy opponents, they proved today that they are a great team," he added.

Argentina, who are bidding to become the first team to win back-to-back World Cup titles since Brazil in 1962, will play Egypt on Tuesday in Atlanta for a place in the quarter-finals.

Earlier on Friday, Egypt defeated Australia on penalties to win a World Cup knockout match for the first time. The deal was sealed when Hossam Abdelmaguid coolly converted the decisive spot-kick to seal a 4–2 shoot out win over the Socceroos.

The penalties were made necessary when the match finished 1–1 following 30 minutes of extra time.

Australia coach Tony Popovic rolled the dice by bringing on veteran goalkeeper Maty Ryan for the shoot-out just moments before the final whistle at Arlington, Texas' AT&T Stadium.

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But Ryan was unable to bring his influence to bear, failing to get a hand on any of Egypt's four successful penalties.

Popovic defended the decision, however: "We just felt that Maty's experience will be the difference."

"I'm sure you'd be saying something else if the young kid scored," Popovic said of his decision to select the teenaged Herrington to take a pressure-laden penalty.

"You'd probably be sitting there saying how wonderful it is that an 18-year-old took a penalty and scored."

"It's history," Egypt talisman Mohamed Salah said. "I told the boys before the game that this is the biggest stage you can play on. Enjoy it and don't let the pressure get to you."

In Friday's late game, Colombia stayed on course for a quarter-final meeting with Argentina after squeezing past Ghana 1–0 in Kansas City.

Jhon Arias scored in the 14th minute of a tight match at Arrowhead Stadium to send Colombia into a last-16 meeting with Switzerland.