The Two Minutes Leandro Paredes Bought Argentina

Down two goals with 25 minutes to go, Argentina scored three times in the final quarter hour to beat Egypt 3-2 in Atlanta, sending the World Cup holders to the quarterfinals after a stoppage time defensive stand from Leandro Paredes preserved the win.

The 91st minute in Atlanta looked like the moment Argentina's title defense ended. They had already erased a two goal deficit and were pushing forward for the winner when Egypt won the ball back and broke, sensing a chance to retake the lead themselves. Leandro Paredes was the last man back, delayed the Egyptian break for as long as he could, before he had to act, deflecting the killer pass and saving the world champions.

Two minutes later, Argentina scored the goal that sent them to the quarterfinals.

The Fundamental Player

The night before, Lionel Scaloni sat in a press conference and was asked why Alexis Mac Allister had spent this tournament playing the number 5 role that Paredes has occupied for most of his cycle as coach. The answer, Scaloni said, had nothing to do with tactics.

"No, because Leandro arrived injured. Simple. There is no other explanation," Scaloni said. He explained that Paredes had picked up the injury around a Copa Libertadores match with Boca Juniors and made, in his words, a tremendous effort just to be available for the tournament at all.

By matchday, Paredes was back. He had started Argentina's third group stage game against Jordan, then came off the bench in the Round of 32 against Cabo Verde, where his introduction in extra time proved instrumental in the win. Scaloni confirmed his midfielder was fit to start again before kickoff against Egypt, relaying that Paredes had told the staff himself he was ready. The coach did not undersell what that meant.

"With him on the pitch, the team turns over differently," Scaloni said. "When the ball goes through him, it circulates well, the team feels comfortable, and we find players at other heights with a much more vertical pass. So for us, he continues to be a fundamental player."

Against Egypt, that description held up in a different way in exactly the moment Argentina needed it to.

How Egypt Made It Look Fragile

For long stretches, this looked like a match Argentina controlled the way the coach wanted, but it was Egypt who were clinical with their chances. Yasser Ibrahim opened the scoring on a back post header, Marwan Attia's cross finding him after he got goal side of Lisandro Martínez. Lionel Messi had a chance to answer immediately from the penalty spot, but Mostafa Shobeir guessed right, diving low to his left to save it waist high. Scaloni saw something in how Messi handled it. "He could have said, that's a missed penalty, and that's that," Scaloni said afterward. "But he asks for it again, and he tries again. It gives me goosebumps."

Argentina kept generating the better half hour of chances, Julián Álvarez alone forcing a save that will be replayed all tournament, a lunging volley off a Nicolás Tagliafico cutback that Shobeir somehow got low enough to deny. At halftime, Argentina had outshot Egypt 7-2 and held 60 percent of the ball. None of it had produced an equalizer.

Egypt extended their lead before the second half hydration break. A counter off a broken Argentina corner in the 68th minute ended with Mostafa Ziko finishing after a long run from the left, Mohamed Salah and Haissem Hassan combining to spring him. 2-0, and a team that had spent most of the match defending suddenly looked like the one in control.

Three Goals in Fifteen Minutes

Argentina's response came fast and in a stretch that will define how this match, and perhaps this group of players, gets remembered. Cristian Romero headed one back in the 79th minute off a Messi assist. Five minutes later, Messi leveled it himself, a shot that came off the underside of the crossbar after Gonzalo Montiel left the ball for him rather than take the shot himself.

"I forgot about Gonzalo," Scaloni said afterward, laughing at himself for it. "He came on and ended up playing like a striker on that goal, the one who laid it back for Leo. I never told him, when the ball comes, go be a number nine, maybe you'll score. You just need players who believe it can happen."

Tied at two, extra time loomed, and both teams pushed everything forward looking for the winner before playing another thirty minutes. That is the moment Paredes stepped in, breaking up the numbers up counter in the 91st minute before it turned into a shooting chance. Moments later, Álvarez did the same, stopping Salah one on one at the edge of the box.

Álvarez was not done there, carrying the ball forward and getting his head up to find a streaking Lautaro Martínez down the right flank. Martínez ran down the long diagonal pass and saw Enzo Fernández one on one inside the 18 with a recovering Ibrahim. The cross found Fernández, and his header was placed perfectly into the opposite side of the goal.

The final numbers back up how this game actually went, even when the scoreboard did not. Argentina finished with 64 percent of the ball, 19 shots to Egypt's 5, and an expected goals total of 2.80 against 0.98. Six big chances were created by Argentina, only two for Egypt. For over an hour, none of that showed up where it counted. By full time, it did.

The Kind of Loss He'd Take

In the press conference room after the match, Scaloni was still working through what he had just watched. Asked what he told his players afterward, he did not reach for tactics.

"I became a coach for this," he said. "Not because I love the job itself. I suffer just like everyone else watching from the bench. But the emotion a football match gives you, gives us as Argentines, I don't think there's anything like it."

He said the tears in the dressing room were not only Messi's. His own come often enough that some of his players have taken to calling him "la llorona," and he did not fight the nickname. Messi had said years ago, in Qatar, that Argentina's fans would never leave the team hanging, whatever the scoreline. Scaloni brought the phrase back up on his own.

"It's literal," he said. "It's something you can feel."

He insisted that if the result had gone the other way, he would have taken it. "If we had to lose, I'd rather lose like this," he said. "There are ways to lose, and there are ways to lose. This was a team that never stopped showing its face." Argentina are through to the quarterfinals, still chasing back to back World Cups. With their back to back Copa America titles bracketing their 2022 World Cup win, the Albiceleste are trying to win four major titles in a row. This has never been done. Somehow, they are still finding a way.

Scaloni had told the room the day before what to expect from his midfielder, that Paredes remained a fundamental player for this team. He did not have much left to add to that once the whistle actually blew.

Walking off, asked for his reaction, Scaloni was unable to complete his interview for television.

"I can't even lift my eyes right now, I'm so emotional. What a group of players, man."