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Argentina struck twice late in extra time to beat 10-man Switzerland in the final quarter-final of the 2026 World Cup.
Switzerland forced the game into extra time despite being reduced to 10 men in the 72nd minute, when Breel Embolo received a second yellow card for simulation following a VAR review. The referee reversed his initial decision to book Leandro Paredes for the challenge.
But Julian Alvarez struck late in the second half of extra time, curling home brilliantly from 25 yards, before Lautaro Martinez completed the victory in stoppage time.
Dan Ndoye had earlier scored a deserved equaliser for Switzerland after Alexis Mac Allister headed home Lionel Messi’s corner to open the scoring.
Argentina will next face old rivals England, who beat Norway in extra time, in Wednesday’s World Cup semi-final.
GO FURTHER
World Cup semifinals bracket predictions: Picking the winners and key players for final four
Well, those four quarter-finals were pretty compelling for differing reasons. Maybe minus Morocco’s limp exit against France — and maybe France will get a tougher examination in the semi-finals.
Here is the line-up — and they come quickly; in just a matter of days in fact.
Tuesday
Wednesday
The losers will play on Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens (5pm ET) in the third-place play-off.
As for the winners, they book their spot in Sunday’s World Cup final at MetLife Stadium, New Jersey with kick-off scheduled for 3pm ET.
And we will be right here with you for every kick and whistle. It it going to be both historic and iconic, and we cannot wait.
It’s 21 years since England have faced Argentina, back in the days when Michael Owen was leading the line alongside a teenager called Wayne Rooney.
As for Lionel Messi, he was nowhere to be seen — suspended after being sent off on his Argentina debut a few months earlier. Messi, in other words, will be facing England for the first time.
It promises to be a fascinating and compelling tie, not least because of the ferocity of a rivalry that is deep-rooted and transcends football. The cheapest tickets in Atlanta are going for $3,000.
Naturally, minds will go back to 1986 when Argentina beat England 2-1 and Diego Maradona scored arguably the greatest World Cup goal of all-time. As for Maradona’s other goal, it’s fair to say VAR would’ve had something to say about that now.
The two World Cup matches between England and Argentina since have been incredibly tight. Argentina triumphed on penalties in 1998, after David Beckham was sent off, and England won via a penalty in 2002, when Beckham went some way to atoning for what happened four years earlier by converting from the spot.
As for the here and now, England will take encouragement from Switzerland’s performance. That said, there’s always Messi — and that alone will make England anxious.
Before Breel Embolo’s dramatic dismissal, Argentina were not exactly pressing home their one-goal advantage. If anything, Lionel Scaloni’s side sank into a more passive shape in the second half, outshot six to two before the red card.
Switzerland deserved their goal, the culmination of a strong spell in which they controlled possession and found line-breaking passes into midfield with relative ease. Argentina were aggressive once Messi and Julian Alvarez were bypassed, but quick passes out wide to Dan Ndoye or into Embolo gave the Swiss a reliable route towards the penalty area.
It was a one-two involving Ndoye that led to the equaliser, as the winger was found in plenty of space on the touchline with defenders slow to engage. Rodrigo De Paul was caught ball-watching as Ricardo Rodriguez offered himself for the pass, trudging back into a shape and letting the run slip through.
None of Argentina’s knockout games have been straightforward. While there is undeniable star power and an unerring ability to get the job done, England will have opportunities to make a mark of their own.
I am going to pick out one part of Stuart James’ dispatch and put it here with a full spotlight, because it deserves it.
Lionel Messi completed 120 minutes of knockout football eight days ago agains Cape Verde.
Another 90 minutes at full-pelt in terms of emotions and desperation on Tuesday against Egypt.
And now 120 minutes again here against Switzerland — albeit against 10 men for the final 50 minutes of action.
It’s hard not to think the body might still ache in just four days’ time, when England await.
For the first time in this World Cup, Lionel Messi failed to score — on a night when he was upstaged by Julian Alvarez.
The Atletico Madrid striker filed a contender for goal of the tournament, with a stunning curling strike in extra- time to set up a semi-final against England on Wednesday.
About time Messi had some help from his team-mates, you might say.
A long evening had started off in serene fashion for Messi and Argentina. With less than 10 minutes on the clock, Messi delivered an outswinging corner from the left that Alexis Mac Allister glanced into the far corner. So far so good.
But that breakthrough wasn’t a sign of things to come. Unable to play with any fluency, Argentina toiled and Messi was peripheral.
It wasn’t until Switzerland were reduced to 10 men that he started to have any sort of influence on the game and even then, things didn’t quite click – an attempted lob was slightly underhit and a right-footed shot flashed narrowly wide.
Perhaps Messi was trying too hard. Or maybe – and more likely – it was simply asking too much for a 39-year-old to carry Argentina yet again.
Either way, his World Cup dream lives on.
Guidance from FIFA does not limit match officials to interpreting the ‘mistaken identity’ rule to players of the same team. The rules say that “if the referee penalises an offence but has clearly misidentified the player who committed that offence, only the identity of the offender can be reviewed.”
Under regulations brought in for the World Cup, the reviewable decisions and incidents now include mistaken identity when the referee shows a yellow or red card, but clearly penalises the wrong player of either team.
As such, referee Joao Pinheiro was correct in reversing his original decision, leaving Breel Embolo in tears and in need of consoling by team-mates.
The irony here is that if the referee had not shown a yellow card to Leandro Paredes, the incident could not have been reviewed on the merits of Embolo’s dive alone. It required a card to be shown to Paredes in order to trigger the protocol.
It was a feisty game and our match discussion is a little feisty too. Here are some of the comments.
T M: “The style of the games in this World Cup is terrible. It makes the phrase ‘the beautiful game’ a joke. Many fouls called — some that should not be. Fake fouls (diving) is rampant. I’m rooting for Messi. I don’t think the fix is in. I’d say France is now the logical pick. But something has to be done to fix this ugly style of play.”
Samirgk: “On current form France are gonna kick everyone’s derriere. Argentina have been plain lucky with some flashes of brilliance but England will win. The Spanish goalpost will be breached again by Mbappe & Co. In the final, France all the way 2-1. Totally neutral here — from a country that hasn’t even participated in the World Cup, so no emotions. 🙂 ”
Daryang: “I’m OK with the field vs Argentina but I’m not terribly confident — Spain, France, England are probably the best 3 teams in the world outside of Argentina.”
A rare piece of symmetry. This is only the third time in World Cup history that all four semi-finalists are former champions of the tournament, joining 1970 and 1990.
Argentina’s own path here fits neatly into that pattern too. It is their third semi-final in the last four editions (2014, 2022, 2026), after not reaching this stage at all between 1990 and 2014.
Lionel Scaloni’s grip on the job against European opposition remains total too. He is unbeaten in 10 matches as manager against UEFA nations — seven wins, three draws.
Here is some reaction from Argentina full-back Nicolas Tagliafico. It is fair to say he is already looking forward to facing England in the semi-finals:
💬 “It’s an epic match. I don’t want to overload it with extra flavour, Argentina vs England is already something you don’t see every day. It’s going to be a game to enjoy, to suffer through — because obviously, we’re suffering through this whole World Cup — but I think it’s going to be a match to feel proud about, to feel part of something very important that we’re achieving, part of this story we‘re living.”
All of that — as well as another chapter in a fierce football rivalry. Epic is an adequate adjective. Just about.
It’s fair to say today has also been an interesting day in the race for the Golden Boot at this World Cup.
With the quarter-finals now done and Erling Haaland’s Norway out of the tournament, this is how the standings look heading into the semis.
2026 World Cup Golden Boot
Game very much on for this one.
If your star attacker can’t get you a winning goal, then it’s always pretty handy if one of your other world-class forwards can come up with the goals.
That goes for both England and Argentina today — Jude Bellingham for the former, and Julian Alvarez for the latter.
It was a wonderful strike from the Atletico Madrid man, one worthy of winning any World Cup game and his first at this World Cup.
But from a happier perspective, Argentina goalscorer Julian Alvarez also spoke after the game about who is fuelling Argentina’s drive to win back-to-back World Cups — and it is a lengthy list of people they are trying to achieve the goal for.
💬 “We aren’t just playing for ourselves, we’re playing for our families, our people, and for the chance to make history once again.
“We will do everything to make sure Lionel Messi wins the World Cup again.
“Every game is a battle for him. The first thing I did when I scored the goal was to hug him.”
Manuel Akanji also didn’t hold back when discussing the performance of the referee tonight.
💬 “It’s a shame to get knocked out like that when you know you could have won the game. Even if you have the referee against you — every little thing was called.
“I’m not one to complain about the referee but I’ve never played in a game so one sided, where every little thing was called. Not one of their dives was called, and then Embolo gets a (second) yellow card.
“We can’t change it now.”
Murat Yakin has been speaking in his news conference and he isn’t happy either:
💬 “He didn’t need to give a yellow card in that situation. There was no reason for it. There were several incidents before that where they should have intervened. It’s a rule that shouldn’t exist in a quarter-final.
“The fact that they had to correct his mistake and weaken us is incomprehensible to me.
“I wouldn’t say they (Argentina) are being favoured. (But) football didn’t come out on top. We were punished by a referee mistake. I didn’t know this rule before; it’s a very harmless situation, a yellow card was awarded, VAR interfered. It was a very meaningful moment for us and it was decisive for the outcome of the match.
“The VAR and the ref … the fact they introduced such a rule is just unnecessary. It’s extremely hurtful — we missed this opportunity going to the semi-finals, but I think we deserved to be there.”
Granit Xhaka also says the Breel Embolo decision cost Switzerland the quarter-final. He says the Swiss had to abandon their game plan following the red card and that the decision “killed the game”. Here is what he said:
💬 “We had a good start. We had the ball, we didn’t create a lot in the first half. They didn’t have anything else, just a corner goal. The second half was our game. We knew that step by step, we can take more risk.
“We took it, we scored, we felt very good. We had more energy, more belief, and the red card changed everything.
“If you have to lose because of one decision from the referee, it is painful. But it was his decision. It’s difficult to accept now after the game, because the dressing room was very quiet, disappointed, but if you also disappointed after the game against this Argentina team, it shows a big mentality for this team.”
“The rules are the rules, and we can’t change the rules, but it’s a decision where you kill the game.
It is my opinion.”
Switzerland’s midfielder Remo Freuler is not happy at all with the refereeing decision that saw Breel Embolo sent off. He says in the mixed zone:
💬 “It’s just a disaster. I don’t know what this referee is doing here, you know? I don’t understand why they call it for a situation like this, because there is many fouls, maybe also first half, maybe he has to also to call them for a yellow card. How can a VAR change a game with this situation?”
Cristian Romero didn’t hold back on the pride he feels at this Argentina run.
💬 “The truth is we’re not really aware of what we’re achieving. I have enormous pride in being part of this family, this national team. Sometimes we don’t play well, but we leave everything on the pitch and it shows right up to the last minute. We never give up.
“Sometimes it goes well, sometimes badly, but we give our hearts out there and you saw it again today. We went through, which is what we wanted. One more step to go — hopefully we can do it.
“We’re going to leave everything out there again, but we’re very happy with the World Cup we’re having.”
Julian Alvarez is a man familiar with English football too, having scored 36 goals in 103 appearances and two seasons at Premier League side Manchester City.
There were two league titles, a Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup won in that spell too.
He may be at Atletico Madrid (for now) but Alvarez will know better than most, what awaits in the semi-finals.
Julian Alvarez reflected on a hard-fought win in his post-game interview:
💬 “I’m very happy. We tried until the end, things got difficult even though we had a man extra for the whole of extra time — but we knew if we kept going together, the goal would come.”
Then asked about the outside noise around the team, Alvarez added:
💬 “There’s always a lot of talk. I think we have to focus our energy on our own things. The group is very united, very strong. Now it’s time to rest and think about the next one.
“We’d prefer to win games earlier but we know it’s not easy. There are two more left, and we’re going to go for them with everything.”
Team Stats
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