For an hour it was tight, and then, thanks to a moment of pure quality from Julian Alvarez, it was over. Argentina beat Switzerland 3-1 after extra time at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday, and the holders are into the World Cup semi-finals again. Waiting for them, on 15 July in Atlanta, are England.
It should not have taken this long. Argentina were in front inside 10 minutes and looked, for a spell, as though they might stroll it. That they did not is to Switzerland's credit. They dug in, found an equaliser, and pushed a heavyweight to the very edge of extra time before the champions' class told.
An early lead, then a stubborn fightback
The opener carried a familiar signature. Lionel Messi swung in the delivery from a set-piece, and Alexis Mac Allister rose to head Argentina ahead in the 10th minute. Kansas City settled into a rhythm the favourites seemed happy with, the ball moving through Messi, the game bending their way.
Switzerland had other ideas. They weathered the early pressure, grew into the contest, and got their reward just after the hour. Dan Ndoye levelled it in the 67th minute, a goal that changed the temperature of the tie completely and gave the Swiss belief they could see off the world champions. For a while it looked as though they might. Argentina probed, Messi conducted, but the finish would not come, and the match went into the last 10 minutes level at 1-1.
It stayed that way through 90 minutes. Honours even, extra time it was.
Embolo's dismissal, then the champions' class
The turning point did not involve a goal. Breel Embolo was sent off for a second bookable offence, and the balance of the tie tilted back towards Argentina for good. Down to 10 men, Switzerland could no longer press and contain in the same breath; the space that had been so scarce began to open up.
Argentina needed a man to seize it, and Alvarez duly obliged. In the 112th minute he collected the ball around 25 yards out, took a touch, and drilled it into the top corner. It was the kind of strike that settles matches of this weight, clean and unanswerable, and it left the Swiss with a mountain to climb and their legs already gone.
The third arrived deep into stoppage time of extra time. Thiago Almada's effort was not cleared, and Lautaro Martinez was on hand to bury it in the 120+1 minute, a finish that flattered the scoreline a touch but ended any lingering doubt. Argentina 3, Switzerland 1. The holders march on.
Messi influential to the last
Messi's own night carried a small footnote. His run of scoring in consecutive World Cup matches came to an end here, but the assist for Mac Allister's opener and his hand in so much of Argentina's best work told their own story. He remained the game's central figure even without adding to his tally, the reference point everything ran through. When the moment demanded a killer intervention, it came from Alvarez rather than the captain, and that will not trouble anyone in the Argentina camp.
For Switzerland, the run ends at the quarter-final. They gave the champions a genuine scare, led the tie in spirit for long stretches after Ndoye's equaliser, and were undone in the end by a red card and a piece of individual brilliance. Few sides at this tournament will have made Argentina work harder for it.
The reward for the winners is a heavyweight last-four tie. Argentina, champions in 2022, face England in Atlanta on 15 July, a renewal of a rivalry that needs no introduction. The holders are two wins from retaining the trophy. On this evidence they will take some stopping, though Switzerland showed that stopping them, for an hour at least, is not beyond the rest.
No comments yet