In the 21st minute at Atlanta stadium, Argentina was awarded a penalty after left-back Nicolas Tagliafico was fouled by Haissem Hassan inside the box. Messi stepped up to take the penalty, but his shot to the right corner was anticipated and saved with both hands by goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir. The Argentina captain was so disappointed that he did not follow up for the rebound, instead lingering around the penalty spot.

Lionel Messi missed a penalty during Argentina's round of 16 match against Egypt at World Cup 2026, held at Atlanta stadium, Georgia, US on 7/7. Photo: AP

Messi's miss against Egypt marked his second penalty failure at World Cup 2026, following a shot wide in the group stage match against Austria. Despite that earlier miss, he scored two goals from open play in that game. According to Opta statistics, the Argentina star is now the first player in World Cup history to miss two penalties in a single tournament, excluding shootouts. This also brings Messi's total World Cup penalty misses to 4. No other player in the tournament's history has missed more than 2; former Ghana forward Asamoah Gyan is second with 2 misses. The recent miss against Egypt reduced Messi's World Cup penalty conversion rate to 50%, having taken 8 penalties, scoring 4 and missing 4.

Commenting on BBC Radio 5 Live, former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson expressed surprise at Messi's miss from the penalty spot. "No one in the stadium thought Messi would miss. Shobeir read it correctly and deserves praise," Robinson said. On ITV, former Scotland forward Ally McCoist also observed that Messi lacked his usual confidence. "It's unbelievable. He didn't look truly confident," McCoist stated. "It was a good save, but also a rather comfortable shot for the goalkeeper."

Lionel Messi looks disappointed after missing a penalty during Argentina's round of 16 match against Egypt at World Cup 2026, held at Atlanta stadium, Georgia, US on 7/7. Photo: AP

Egypt's hero was goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir. He became the fourth goalkeeper in World Cup history to save two penalties in a single tournament, following Jan Tomaszewski of Poland in 1974, Brad Friedel of the US in 2002, and Wojciech Szczesny of Poland in 2022. Earlier, in the final group stage match against Iran, the 26-year-old goalkeeper had also saved a penalty from forward Mehdi Taremi.

At the time of Messi's penalty miss, Argentina was trailing 0-1 after center-back Yasser Ibrahim scored with a header in the 15th minute. This marked the first time Argentina had fallen behind in a World Cup match since their opening game of World Cup 2022 against Saudi Arabia. Argentina also became the third South American team to trail an African opponent in a World Cup knockout round, after Colombia versus Cameroon in 1990 and Uruguay versus Ghana in 2010. Colombia subsequently lost, while Uruguay came back to beat Ghana in a penalty shootout.

Curiously, 10 minutes after his penalty miss, Messi had a free-kick opportunity from over 30 m. He created even more danger than the penalty, curling the ball to hit the post.

Hoang An compiled