They don’t make it easy. Argentina dragged themselves into the World Cup semi-finals on Saturday, needing extra-time and a moment of pure genius from Julian Alvarez to finally break a stubborn, 10-man Switzerland 3-1. The reward for their sweat? A date with their favorite enemies, England.
Kansas City was basically Buenos Aires for the night. The Arrowhead Stadium stands were a sea of blue and white, and those fans were screaming just ten minutes in. Lionel Messi, inevitable as ever, served up a corner that Alexis Mac Allister glanced home. Easy start. Or so they thought.
Switzerland refused to die. Dan Ndoye grabbed a deserved equalizer midway through the second half. Then, Swiss forward Breel Embolo did something incredibly stupid. Already on a yellow, he dived. The referee noticed. A VAR check confirmed the simulation, and Embolo was off.
Even with a man down, the Swiss parked the bus. They repelled wave after wave of Argentine desperation. It took until the 112th minute for the deadlock to shatter. Alvarez picked up the ball and curled an absolute beauty into the top corner. Lautaro Martinez added a third late on, but that was just vanity.
“We suffered,” Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni admitted. He wasn’t lying. “They are physical. We struggled for solutions, but luck favored us with the red card.”
This ugly win means the world’s top four ranked teams will contest the semi-finals. Argentina is now unbeaten in 12 World Cup matches. They want to be the first back-to-back champions since Brazil in 1962, but the road has been bumpy. They scraped past Cape Verde. They had to fight back against Egypt. This was no different.
Messi didn’t score, but his assist for Mac Allister’s opener means he has set up ten goals across six World Cups. He still shares the Golden Boot lead with Kylian Mbappe on eight goals.
After the early goal, Argentina went to sleep. Switzerland actually outplayed the world champions for long stretches. Emiliano Martinez had to rush off his line to deny Embolo in the first half. The Swiss equalizer in the 67th minute was coming, sparked by Ricardo Rodriguez’s clever pass to Ndoye.
Then came Embolo’s brain-fade.
Even against ten men, Argentina looked lost. Mac Allister missed a sitter. Messi curled one wide. Extra-time felt like a chore until Alvarez saved them.
Now, Atlanta awaits on Wednesday. And England. Thomas Tuchel’s side beat Norway 2-1 earlier on Saturday to set up a clash dripping with historical venom.
This rivalry is personal. It is fueled by the 1982 Falklands War. It is defined by Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” and his subsequent wondergoal in 1986. They’ve split two World Cup meetings since then—Argentina winning on penalties in ’98, England getting revenge in 2002. Get ready for another war.
