Lionel Messi admitted that Argentina would need to “correct the bad” aspects—of which there were “many”—on display in a deeply underwhelming 3–2 victory over Cabo Verde on Friday night, offering a concise and insightful breakdown of his team’s struggles when pressing.The defending World Cup champion took a first-half lead against the third-smallest nation to ever qualify for the tournament thanks to Messi’s seventh goal of the summer. But then they stopped playing.Cabo Verde impressed once again, battling back to equalize through Deroy Duarte shortly before the hour mark. Even Lisandro Martínez’s strike in extra time didn’t dampen the rank underdog, which leveled the game against through a Sidny Lopes Cabral wonder goal.It wasn’t until the 111th minute that Argentina eventually nabbed the decisive winner, which only came from a Diney Borges own goal.“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,” Messi fretted in the mixed zone.Messi Blames Pressing Rather Than ComplacencyLionel Messi has shouldered the burden for Argentina this summer. | Pablo Morano/BSR Agency/Getty Images“We knew it was going to be a very tough match; this team hadn’t lost to Spain and Uruguay for a reason,” Messi insisted. “We did the hardest part, which was finding the first goal. We thought that from then on, we would start to find our game and be more relaxed, but it was the complete opposite.”If complacency wasn’t the issue, pressing was.“We couldn’t press them well, and our lines were a bit too far apart,” Argentina’s captain explained. “They always had an extra man because we couldn’t match them. And well, that’s why they had the ball and made us run, because we couldn’t press them properly.”Cabo Verde boasted an 86% pass accuracy, the highest the African minnow has managed in any match throughout this World Cup. Bubista’s side was able to complete so many of its passes because, as Messi pointed out, Argentina couldn’t force them into any mistakes.Take the buildup to Cabral’s stunner as a prime example: Cabo Verde strung together 12 passes between eight players in a 37-second sequence which began with goalkeeper Vozinha.WIN FIFA WORLD CUP 2026™ FINAL TICKETS & OTHER PRIZESCompete against the world. | Sports IllustratedCould This Be a Problem for Argentina Going Forward?Lionel Scaloni has some thinking to do. | JUAN MABROMATA/AFP/Getty Images“We knew it was going to be difficult; this is a knockout tournament, and nobody gives you anything for free,” Messi added. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy at all, and that’s what this World Cup in particular is all about. It’s very evenly matched, very complicated, and every game is going to be extremely difficult.”Argentina is up against Egypt in Atlanta on Tuesday, July 7. While Mohamed Salah’s side shouldn’t really cause the world champion any problem, the same was thought ahead of this clash with Cabo Verde.Lionel Scaloni is not going to suddenly discover a way to turn Argentina into a high pressing team. Messi averaged the least distance covered of any regular in this year’s World Cup group stage for a reason: he is not expected to work off the ball. Pressing with 10 players is arguably worse than not pressing at all, given the gaps that could become exposed by chasing after shadows haphazardly—as Argentina demonstrated against Cabo Verde.Brazil boss Carlo Ancelotti noted earlier this summer that “Argentina does not play high-intensity soccer,” with its strength being able to “manage the game very well.” That was not the case against Cabo Verde—or for much of the 2022 World Cup, which saw the eventual winners give up the lead in four of its seven matches en route to the title.Yet, for all the concerns this performance churned up, it underscored one enduring quality for Argentina: determination.“I will talk to the players about the negative,” Scaloni concluded, “but we take away the positive, which is we never let our arms down.”READ THE LATEST WORLD CUP NEWS, ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT FROM SI FCAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow