Lionel Messi admitted Argentina have “many” areas to improve after the defending champions survived a major scare to beat Cape Verde 3-2 after extra time and reach the FIFA World Cup round of 16.Argentina sealed their place in the last 16 for the sixth straight World Cup after defeating Cape Verde in a tense round-of-32 match at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Saturday (IST).Tottenham defender Cristian Romero scored the winner in the 111th minute, with his header from Messi’s corner taking a deflection off Cape Verde’s Diney Borges before going into the net.Messi had given Argentina the lead with a well-taken goal, but Cape Verde twice fought back to level the match. Their second equaliser came through Sidny Lopes Cabral, whose strike was among the standout goals of the tournament.Speaking after the match, Messi said Argentina were pleased to qualify but admitted the team had several issues to fix before the next round.“Today, we put in a huge effort, as always, playing well and playing badly, just like we always say,” Messi said after the game. “But I think the important thing now is to rest, think about what’s coming next and try to take positives from today’s game. Beyond just qualifying, I think there are positives because we did some good things, and we also need to correct the bad ones, which I think were many today as well.”Cape Verde made history by becoming the smallest nation to reach the knockout stage of the 2026 World Cup. The country has a population of around 525,000, fewer than every U.S. state. Wyoming is the closest, with a population of about 576,000.Messi praised the African side for making life difficult for Argentina and said their performance did not come as a surprise.“We knew it was going to be a very tough match; this team hadn’t lost to Spain and Uruguay for a reason. We did the hardest part, which was finding the first goal,” Messi said. “We thought that from then on, we would start to find our game and be more relaxed, but it was the complete opposite. We lost the ball, we sat back, we couldn’t pressure them well, and they struck with their strengths. We knew it was going to be difficult; this is a knockout tournament, and nobody gives you anything for free.“Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni also praised Cape Verde and said his players would review the mistakes from the match before the next round.“There is no easy rival. Congratulations to Cape Verde,” Scaloni said. “I will talk to the players about the negative, but we take away the positive, which is we never let our arms down.”
