Argentina nearly got bounced from the 2026 World Cup by Cape Verde. Let that sink in for a moment.
The defending champions scraped past the tournament underdogs 2-1 in the Round of 32, a result that had Lionel Messi publicly calling on his teammates to fix their issues before facing stiffer competition. But while Argentina’s backline was busy giving fans heart palpitations, traders in the digital asset space were busy hammering the buy button on the $ARG fan token.
A close call with historic milestones
The match, played on July 3-4, was supposed to be a formality. It was anything but.
Cape Verde scored first, and for a stretch of the game, it looked like one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history was genuinely on the table. Argentina eventually clawed back, with Messi doing what Messi does: scoring his seventh goal of the 2026 tournament and bringing his career World Cup total to 20 goals.
