It’s the sixth and final day of the Round of 32. We get to see Salah, Messi, a strong Colombia team, and the story of the tournament in Cape Verde. As there has been in virtually every day of this World Cup so far, we had some surprises and dramatic moments. Here’s how it all went down:

Egypt 1-1 Australia (4-2 pks)

I have to say, this game provided much more drama than I expected. It started pretty much how I thought it would though. Egypt had 70% possession through the opening 15 minutes and went 1-0 up in the 13th. Emam Ashour headed home a Karim Hafez cross at the back post to set the Egyptians on their way. They were the better team through the rest of the first half and looked the more likely of the two teams to get the game’s second goal but it went to halftime at 1-0.

Omar Marmoush should have scored less than a minute into the second half but he steered a shot wide from close range. Egypt would be made to rue their missed chance when in the 55th, Australia got an unlikely equalizer. A free kick swung into the box went off defender Mohamed Hany and into the net. Egypt were again on top for the rest of the half and would have had a winner four minutes into stoppage time if not for a fantastic save from Patrick Beach.

Australia were just hanging on in extra time and the best chance of the two periods fell to Mohamed Salah in the 94th but he was unable to convert. Just before the end of the 120 minutes, Australia manager Tony Popovic made the bold decision of subbing off his goalkeeper Beach for veteran Mathew Ryan. We’ve seen this before, as it famously worked for the Netherlands when Jasper Cillesen came off for Tim Krul against Costa Rica in the 2014 World Cup. However, it wouldn’t end up working here for Australia. Harry Souttar blasted Australia’s first attempt over the bar. The next five takes between the two teams were made, with Salah closing out the third round with a fantastic penalty. That made it 3-2 heading into the fourth, where 18 year old Australian defender Lucas Herrington would hit the bar. Hossam Abdelmaguid would convert Egypt’s fourth to send them through 4-2.

When it comes to Australia, they may regret making the change to Ryan for the penalties. He didn’t come close to saving any of the four he faced. Beach had also looked incredible this tournament and should be looking for a move to Europe. As for the tournament overall, I think this is about the best Australia could have hoped for. They just don’t have the quality to make any kind of impact at a World Cup. I’m actually convinced that if it was only the top two teams in each group advancing, Paraguay may have gone for it more in the final group game and likely would have eliminated Australia then. Beach and Irankunda were their standouts of the tournament and they’ll be hoping they can continue to improve as a team. Probably with a new manager.

For Egypt, this win was well deserved. The only negative is that they should have gotten it done in 90 minutes. Still, it’s a great moment for them to win their first ever knockout game at a World Cup. They definitely have the attacking talent to cause teams some problems and will need to be brave in the Round of 16.

Argentina 3-2 Cape Verde

What did I just witness? What an unbelievable game. There’s so much to talk about so I’ll just get right into it. The first half of this game went exactly as expected. The talent gap between the two teams was evident and Argentina was easily the better team. Lionel Messi opened the scoring in the 29th minute by taking an unreal touch and firing past Vozinha from close range. At that point, it looked like it was going to be a fairly simple 90 minutes for Argentina. For Cape Verde, they got to halftime only down 1-0 and that felt like an accomplishment.

In the second half, I thought Argentina were way too passive. They were only up by a goal and were playing like victory was a formality. They didn’t get out of first gear. Cape Verde would make them pay right before the hour mark. Ryan Mendes played a ball into the box that went between a defender’s legs and Deroy Duarte put it away from a tight angle. Cape Verde were then able to keep it at 1-1 after 90 minutes and remarkably take the game to extra time.

Lisandro Martinez scored less than two minutes into stoppage time to put Argentina up 2-1. There was a little controversy as it was close to offside but I actually thought there was a foul in the box when an Argentina player went to head the ball, missed, and took out a Cape Verde defender. I’m willing to accept that maybe I was biased though as like most neutrals, I was pulling for Cape Verde. Either way, it felt like Argentina were just going to go on and see the game out. But this is Cape Verde we’re talking about. In the 103rd minute, Sidny Lopes Cabral cut in on from the left side of the box and curled a shot into the far corner to make it 2-2. It was not only arguably the goal of the tournament, you could also make a case for it being one of the all-time great goals in World Cup history. It would all end in heartbreak for Cape Verde though as in the second half of extra time, a Messi corner was met by Cristian Romero, who headed it off of the arm of defender Diney Borges and into the back of the net. It ended up going down as an own goal. Cape Verde had chances to equalize for a third time, including a free kick from Lopes Cabral that forced Emi Martinez into a fantastic save. But at the final whistle, Argentina had survived.

First on Argentina, this is a game that should wake them up. They never would have anticipated having to go 120 minutes in this one. It felt like they were just too complacent and it nearly cost them. It will need to be better moving forward or they will not be repeating as World Cup winners.

And now, Cape Verde. What a performance. Not just in this game, but across their whole tournament. I’ll start with tonight though. Coming in, I thought this was going to be a bridge too far. I had this as a relatively easy 4-0 win for Argentina. As the game went on, I never felt that Cape Verde were going to win but each moment felt like an increasingly huge accomplishment. It started with getting to halftime at 1-0 down but moved to getting an equalizer, taking it to extra time, and then getting a second equalizer. It was absolutely remarkable. When the team has time to reflect on their tournament, they should be incredibly proud. Cape Verde played four games and never lost in 90 minutes. They drew against the European Champions Spain and pushed the reigning World Champions all the way for 120 minutes. Everyone associated with the team is a legend.

Colombia 1-0 Ghana

This one ended up being a really clear-cut result. So this will end up being much shorter than usual. Quite simply, Colombia were by far the better team from start to finish. They got their goal within the first 15 minutes when Jhon Arias scored at the far post following a cross from Luis Suarez. That was all that was required from Colombia to get their win and advance to the Round of 16. They did have several other chances to score including one that Luis Diaz had in the back of the net that was called back for offside. As for Ghana, they didn’t offer much all game. That may actually be an understatement as they didn’t record a single shot on target. In the end, this could easily have been a 3 or 4-0 win for Colombia.

Ghana now bow out of the World Cup after what ended up being a decent group stage but disappointing knockout loss. I think being really defensive and pragmatic was both their strength and weakness. You live by the sword and die by the sword kind of stuff. They got a great 0-0 result against England in the group but they didn’t offer nearly enough going forward in any of their games. With players like Semenyo and Williams in attack, that’s really disappointing.

Colombia are cruising through this tournament so far. And it’s largely down to their defense. I think they’ve missed too many chances going forward but when you only concede one goal in four games, it ends up not being that big of a deal. I do think they’ll need to be more clinical in their upcoming games but if they can keep their strong defensive base, they’ll be very difficult to beat.

Tomorrow’s Predictions

• Morocco 3-1 Canada
  • I think this ends up being a pretty easy win for Morocco. I can see Canada getting a goal but Morocco are one of the best teams in the tournament and should be able to handle the Canadians
• France 3-0 Paraguay
  • Paraguay were incredible defensively against Germany in their last game. But I think they’ll find it much harder to keep this devastating French attack at bay. France will overwhelm Paraguay and send them home

That’s a wrap for the inaugural World Cup Round of 32. And what a round it was. There was unbelievable drama and huge upsets. The majority of games were at least close and competitive. Now we move on to the Round of 16. This World Cup has given us so much already and I can’t wait to see what happens next. See you tomorrow!