Argentina vs Egypt | FIFA World Cup 2026 — Round of 16| Preview and Predictions

This is the last RO16 fixture that will be played between the defending champions Argentina and African giants Egypt on 8th July at the Atlanta Stadium in the USA. 

For the game, here we present our preview and prediction.

FIFA WC26 | Round of 16: ARG vs EGY| 21:30 IST, July 8, 2026

Argentina came through a difficult Round of 32 fixture which was initially dubbed as a cakewalk for the defending champions. Cape Verde really took the game to Argentina and came back twice to draw 2-2, pushing the game into extra-time where they lost in a heart-breaking manner through an own goal but won everyone’s hearts. Messi opened the scoring for Argentina but Cape Verde equalised through Deroy Duarte.  Argentine defender Lisandro Martinez then gave Argentina the lead in second-half stoppage-time but Sidny Lopes Cabral restored parity yet again with a goal-of-the-tournament contender, a sublime strike into the top right corner. Argentina was saved by Diney Borges’ unfortunate own goal in extra-time. La Albiceleste would be concerned with that performance though as they looked vulnerable in defence against a relatively inexperienced team. 

In contrast, the Egypt vs Australia game was a tight scrappy affair with not a lot of action. Emam Ashour opened the scoring for Egypt early in the first half, Australia equalised early in the second half courtesy of a Mohamed Hany own goal. The two sides kept trying to find a winner and Egypt almost found a stoppage-time winner with Patrick Beach making a superb save to keep out Ramy Rabia’s header. The game headed into extra-time and then the penalty shootouts where Egypt edged Australia 4-2 with Hossam Abdelmaguid converting the decisive penalty to win it for the Pharaohs. 

The Egyptians won their first-ever knockout game at the World Cup and became only the second African nation after Morocco to win a shootout. However, Argentina is going to be their most challenging opponent yet. The form Messi is in, the Egyptians’ best hope is to defend deep and try to hit them on the counter. 

Nicolas Gonzales and Facundo Medina will be unavailable for Argentina due to injury issues while Egypt will miss Mohamed Abdelmonem and Ahmed El Fotouh for this fixture. 

Both teams have been unbeaten in the tournament so far but if we look at the two teams, Argentina is the overwhelming favourite for this game but Egypt has a good attacking line which can’t be underestimated. If Mohamed Salah has recovered from his hamstring issue, he can definitely make an impact for Egypt against a vulnerable Argentine defence. Having said that, Argentina has too much firepower alongside an in-form Messi that will help them book a place in the quarter-finals yet again. 

Score Prediction: Argentina 3-1 Egypt 

Venue: Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia, USA