Lionel Messi admitted Argentina have “many” areas to improve after the defenders survived a major scare to beat Cape Verde 3-2 after extra time and reach FIFA World Cup white 16Argentina sealed their place in the last 16 of the World Cup for the sixth time in a row after defeating Cape Verde in a tough round of 32 match at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Saturday (IST).Tottenham defender Cristian Romero scored the winner in the 111th minute, his header from Messi’s corner deflected off Cape Verde’s Diney Borges before heading into the net.Messi gave Argentina the lead with a famous goal, but Cape Verde fought back twice to level the game. Their second equalizer came through Sidny Lopes Cabral, whose strike was one of the main goals of the tournament.Speaking after the match, Messi said that Argentina are ready to do well but admitted that the team has a number of problems that need to be fixed before the game.“Today, we made an effort, as always, to play well and to play badly, as we always say,” Messi said after the match. “But I think the most important thing now is to rest, think about what’s coming and try to take the positives from today’s game. Beyond just being qualified, I think there are positives because we did some good things, and we also need to fix the bad ones, which I think was a lot today.”Cape Verde made history by becoming the smallest country to reach the knockout stage of the 2026 World Cup. The country has a population of about 525,000, less than the entire US. Wyoming is the closest, with a population of about 576,000.Messi praised the African side for making life difficult for Argentina and said he was not surprised by their performance.“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.“Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni has also praised Cape Verde and said his players will review the mistakes made in the tournament before the next season.“There is no easy enemy. Congratulations Cape Verde,” said Scaloni. “I’ll talk to the players about the bad, but we take away the good, which means we don’t let our hands down.”
