A major lesson Egypt can exploit from Argentina's match against Cape Verde in the round of 32 is Argentina's tendency to underestimate opponents who are significantly below them. This is a major weakness for the Albiceleste.
After taking a 1-0 lead over Cape Verde in the round of 32, Argentina slowed down. Instead of continuing to press to kill off any chance of a comeback, Lionel Scaloni's team instead gave Cape Verde a breather.
As a result, Cape Verde equalized. After Lisandro Martinez restored the lead, the Albiceleste returned to the same pattern. Instead of continuing to be aggressive, they became passive, allowing Cape Verde to equalize for the second time.
Argentina finally won the match which lasted for 120 minutes only because of the "contribution" of an own goal by Cape Verde center back, Diney Borges.
Scaloni was not wrong because he had warned his players, all star players, not to underestimate Cape Verde, because this African team had forced Spain and Uruguay to draws.
Apparently the warning was not heeded, because there was a tendency among the Argentine players to underestimate their opponents.
One of the factors that led to their conceding against the weakest team in Group J, Jordan, was also due to that mental factor.
Imagine, after winning with clean sheets against Algeria and Austria, the Albiceleste's goal was instead breached by Jordan, who is ranked much lower, as was Cape Verde.
Therefore, the best way that Mohamed Salah and his teammates can use to defeat Argentina in the 2026 World Cup round of 16 match at Atlanta Stadium is to lure Lionel Messi and his teammates into a mental state that "feels like they have the upper hand."
That's when Argentina let their guard down. It was also at this point that Jordan and Cape Verde managed to score against the Albiceleste, rather than the higher-ranked Algeria and Austria.
All three goals conceded by Argentina came from Jordan and Cape Verde. Argentina has scored a total of 11 goals, seven of which were scored by Messi.
Egypt, which is also a low-block team like Jordan and Cape Verde, at least against Argentina, can perfect Cape Verde's strategy.
This can be done by re-applying the tactics that saw them draw 1-1 with Belgium in the group stage, and by optimizing the high-quality players Cape Verde lacks, particularly Salah and Omar Marmoush.
