WC 2026 ⚽ · 7 July 2026
Messi and Salah face off in World Cup quarter-final qualifier
crop: HazemGMoriginal: Franco237 (Wikimedia, CC-BY-SA-4.0) | Hossein Zohrevand (Wikimedia, CC-BY-4.0)
Argentina and Egypt, with two of football's biggest stars, will play in Atlanta on Tuesday, vying for entry to the 2026 World Cup quarter-finals. At 39 years old, Lionel Messi has won the World Cup and holds the record for most goals ever scored in the competition, whereas Mohamed Salah, 34, is participating in the knockout stages for the first time with the Egyptian national team. Argentinians are concentrating on the possibility of winning consecutive World Cups, a "bicampeonato," while also considering Messi's approaching retirement from the sport.
Reported by BBC · How we write briefs