{"id":216728,"date":"2026-07-11T16:41:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T16:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/argentina-vs-switzerland-world-cup-quarterfinal-messi-prediction-news-al-jazeera\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T16:41:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T16:41:59","slug":"argentina-vs-switzerland-world-cup-quarterfinal-messi-prediction-news-al-jazeera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/argentina-vs-switzerland-world-cup-quarterfinal-messi-prediction-news-al-jazeera\/","title":{"rendered":"Argentina vs Switzerland: World Cup quarterfinal \u2013 Messi, prediction, news – Al Jazeera"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lionel Messi\u2019s Argentina faces Breel Embolo\u2019s Switzerland for a place in the semifinals of the FIFA World Cup 2026.<\/em>
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Three wins to go. How can your team reach the final and win the World Cup 2026? Click here<\/a>\u00a0to find out.<\/em>
Who<\/strong>: Argentina vs Switzerland
What<\/strong>:\u00a0FIFA World Cup 2026<\/a> \u2013 Quarterfinal
Where<\/strong>: Kansas City Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, the United States
When<\/strong>: Saturday at 8pm (01:00 GMT on Sunday)
How to follow<\/strong>:\u00a0We will have all the build-up on\u00a0Al Jazeera Sport<\/a> from 22:00 GMT before our live text commentary stream.
After two gruelling knockout contests, defined by controversies<\/a> more than goals, Argentina enter the business end of the World Cup<\/a>.
The reigning champions outclassed most title contenders in the group stage, thanks to the unstoppable striking force of Lionel Messi.
But their unconvincing, stuttering run in the knockout phase \u2013 where they were pitted against far inferior opponents \u2013 has raised a question: Can Argentina really retain their title?
Up next for the two-time world champions is Switzerland, who have quietly made a remarkable return to the quarterfinals for the first time in 72 years.
The impressive duo of Breel Embolo and Johan Manzambi has won Swiss hearts, and Saturday\u2019s clash offers them a chance to seek revenge for a World Cup defeat by Argentina in 2014.
Argentina had a strong showing in the first round, topping Group J by beating Austria, Jordan and Algeria. In the round of 32, they were pushed to their limits by Cape Verde before squeezing past 3-2 in extra time, and came from two goals down to beat Egypt 3-2<\/a> in a controversial last-16 contest which drew allegations<\/a> of officiating bias<\/a>.
Switzerland topped Group B with an unbeaten record, winning against Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and drawing with Qatar. They beat Algeria 2-0 in the round of 32 and beat Colombia 4-3 on penalties<\/a> to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in 72 years.
What started out as a confident campaign has slowly turned into a shaky title defence for Argentina.
Tournament debutants Cape Verde \u2013 the smallest nation to play in the World Cup knockouts \u2013 gave Argentina a wake-up call<\/a>, forcing the reigning champions to dig deep for victory.
The Argentinian suffering continued in the next game, where they trailed 2-0 against Egypt before turning it around in stoppage time \u2013 in a contest where the opposition accused the referee of favouring the title holders<\/a>.
These performances have pushed Argentina down to fourth in the pecking order of the favourites, while they\u2019ve also slipped from the top spot to number two in the FIFA rankings.
It has instilled the belief in the Swiss camp that beating Argentina is not out of reach.
\u201cWe\u2019re up against the defending champions, which is a unique opportunity. \u200cAt the same time, we\u2019ve realised that Argentina are not invincible,\u201d Switzerland coach Murat Yakin said.
\u201cIt should be an interesting match from a tactical point of view.\u201d
At 39, when most players\u2019 careers are long behind them, Messi is proving that age is just a number.
In his sixth and possibly last World Cup, Messi has maintained a perfect record, scoring in each of Argentina\u2019s five matches so far. His eight goals keep him second in the Golden Boot race<\/a>, only behind France\u2019s Kylian Mbappe, who has also scored eight goals but has played a game more, on account of assists.
Although no longer at his athletic peak, Messi is still very much carrying the burden of the goal-scoring duties for his national team \u2013 and rescued them from early elimination in the round of 16 with a goal and assist.
In a rare show of emotion, he even broke down after that game, saying he was desperate for his World Cup journey to continue.
But after his own admission of fatigue after playing 120 minutes against Cape Verde and pushing hard against a resilient Egypt, Messi\u2019s ageing body is fighting to keep up with the gruelling demands of tournament football.
As the stakes get higher and the margins for error reduce, it begs the question: Will age finally catch up with him?
The Opta supercomputer gives Argentina a 57.1 percent likelihood of winning in regulation time, while Switzerland\u2019s chances of winning are 18.7 percent.
The model estimated a 24.2 percent probability of the game going to extra time.
To check the TV listings for your country, head to FIFA\u2019s TV listing schedule\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The winner of the Argentina vs Switzerland match will face either Norway or England in the semifinals in Atlanta on Wednesday.
The two countries have met seven times, with Argentina winning five of those matches, while two ended in a draw.
Argentina have also won both of their World Cup games against Switzerland: 2-0 in a group game in 1966 and 1-0 in the round of 16 in 2014, which was also the last meeting between the sides in any competition.
Only \u2060three players remain from the 2014 meeting: Messi, Swiss captain Granit Xhaka, and defender Ricardo Rodriguez.
While no injuries are reported in the Argentina camp, Switzerland\u2019s Manzambi and Jaquez are out with knee and muscle injuries, respectively, while Aebischer is doubtful.
Manzambi, Switzerland\u2019s 20-year-old breakout star, also missed the last game.
(4-1-3-2): Martinez (goalkeeper); Molina, Romero, Lisandro, Tagliafico; Paredes; De Paul, Enzo, Mac Allister; Messi, Lautaro
(4-2-3-1): Kobel (goalkeeper); Zakaria, Elvedi, Akanji, Rodriguez; Freuler, Xhaka; Vargas, Rieder, Ndoye; Embolo<\/p>\n

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Lionel Messi\u2019s Argentina faces Breel Embolo\u2019s Switzerland for a place in the semifinals of the FIFA World Cup 2026.SaveShareThree wins to go. How can your team reach the final and win the World Cup 2026? Click here\u00a0to find out.Who: Argentina vs Switzerland What:\u00a0FIFA World Cup 2026 \u2013 Quarterfinal Where: Kansas City Stadium in Kansas City, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":216729,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-216728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}