ATLANTA (AP) — Lionel Messi scored his eighth goal of this year's World Cup on Tuesday against Egypt, extending his scoring streak to nine consecutive games for Argentina and moving to the top of a tight Golden Boot race.

Lionel Messi starts for Argentina today as their World Cup defence continues with a last-16 tie against Mohamed Salah’s Egypt. Argentina survived an almighty scare last time out, defeating Cape Verde 3-2 after extra time in one of the best games of the tournament.

The Lionel Messi World Cup obits were starting to be written. It’s a good bet that some were finalized. Egypt led Argentina 2-0 in a World Cup quarterfinal Tuesday afternoon, in

If two or more players are tied on goals, then the player with the most assists from that first-place tie is awarded the Golden Boot. Essentially, this becomes a ratio. The player who scored the most goals per minute (thus, the player who tied for the top goals, but then did it in less time), wins the Golden Boot.

Andrés Cantor met the moment after the GOAT rescued the reigning World Cup champions with an all-time goal.

There's a growing

USMNT's Malik Tillman closes in on a record set by Lionel Messi after a free kick against Belgium during the World Cup

In addition to that, Messi becomes the first-ever player in World Cup history to have 20 goals to his name, further expanding his lead over Kylian Mbappe. But it’ll go to waste if Cape Verde continues pushing the three-time World Cup champions to the brink and cause arguably the biggest upset of the tournament.