2026 FIFA World Cup Day 22 recap: Ghana embarrass Africa but Cape Verde bow out in pride as Salah vs Messi set

Day 22 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup saw three matches take place, with all three involving African teams. 

Mohamed Salah’s Egypt kicked off the action with a clash against Paraguay before Argentina and Cape Verde faced each other. The day’s action concluded with Colombia’s clash against Switzerland. 

Here’s a recap of how it all went down. 

Seven-time African champions Egypt made it to the round of 16 of a World Cup for the first time after beating Australia in a penalty shootout in Dallas. 

The Pharaohs, who qualified in second place from their group, started on a bright note as they took the lead through Emam Ashour in the 13th minute. 

It stayed that way until the 55th minute when Mohamed Hany diverted the ball into his own net for his second own goal of the tournament to restore parity for Australia. 

Although Egypt had chances to win it at the death, they were denied by a brilliant stop from Patrick Beach in Australia’s goal. 

Neither team was able to find a winner after 90 minutes and 30 minutes of extra time, sending the match to a penalty shootout. 

Australia did try to make an adjustment by bringing on Matt Ryan to replace Beach, but it was the Pharaohs who progressed after the Socceroos missed two of their penalties. 

Argentina’s clash against Cape Verde was supposed to be a routine win for the defending champions, but it turned out to be their most difficult as the two teams played one of the best World Cup games of all time. 

Going into the game, Cape Verde had just a 1% chance of winning the match, but they won a lot of hearts following the match, even though they lost. 

Argentina started on the dominant foot, as expected, taking the lead through their talisman, Lionel Messi, in the 29th minute. 

It was Messi’s seventh goal of the competition and the eighth consecutive World Cup game he has scored in, taking his all-time tally to 20. 

However, Cape Verde refused to back down and were duly rewarded with an equaliser, courtesy of an equaliser from Deroy Duarte in the 59th minute. 

The equaliser shocked the defending champions, who could not find the winner after 90 minutes. It all changed in extra time, though, as Lisandro Martinez put them ahead with an emphatic finish in the 92nd minute. 

Still, the Blue Sharks refused to go away, as they restored parity through Sidny Lopes Cabral, who scored one of the goals of the tournament. 

But despite their resilient spirit, it was not to be for Cape Verde, as Diney’s own goal in the 111th minute gave Argentina a 3-2 win, setting up a Messi vs Salah clash in the round of 16. 

While Cape Verde made Africa proud with their performance, Ghana did the opposite as they gave a shameless and gutless performance in their defeat to Colombia. 

The Black Stars offered nothing in the game, as Colombia dominated from start to finish in Kansas City. 

The game was over as early as the 14th minute after Jhon Arias opened the scoring for La Tricolour. Arias’ strike turned out to be the only goal of the match, but it could have been more if Colombia had been more clinical. 

Nonetheless, the South Americans move on to the round of 16, where they will take on Switzerland.