Argentina survived one of the worst disasters FIFA World Cup beat Cape Verde 3-2 after extra time on Friday and book a place in the round of 16, and Lionel Messi thanks to the downers after pushing the defenders all the way.Tottenham defender Cristian Romero scored the winner in the 111th minute when his header from Messi’s corner deflected off Cape Verde defender Diney Borges before heading into the net.Messi opened the scoring with his 20th FIFA World Cup goal, extending his tournament record. Lisandro MartÃnez then put Argentina ahead in stoppage time after Cape Verde equalised. The African team lost again in extra time before Romero could fight back.The result sent Argentina into the round of 16 to reach their sixth consecutive World Cup, but Cape Verde came close to producing the biggest upset in the tournament’s history.Messi said his team must fight until the end to go through.“As this team has shown many times, and as I have said many times, it competes,” Messi said in Spain. “And we competed until the end.”Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni also praised Cape Verde for the challenges they faced.“I have to give credit to our opponents,” Scaloni said. “The truth is, when people say that there is no easy opponent, today (Cape Verde) played against a great team.”Messi said Argentina knew before the match that Cape Verde would not be easy to beat, pointing to the result at the start of the tournament.“We knew it would be a very difficult game; the team did not lose to Spain and Uruguay for a reason. We did very hard, which was to get the first goal,” said Messi. “We thought that from then on, we would start to find our game and be comfortable, but it was very different. We lost the ball, we sat behind, we could not press them well, and they won with their strength. We knew it would be difficult; this is a knockout competition, and nobody gives you anything for free.“Cape Verde’s bid for the 2026 World Cup has ended after a record-breaking campaign. With a population of around 525,000, the island nation became the smallest nation to reach the finals of the competition.Led by 40-year-old player Vozinha, Cape Verde has already surprised many by drawing with former champions Spain and Uruguay, as well as Saudi Arabia, before defeating Argentina in extra time in the round of 32.