🕙 6 MINUTES 🗓️ 9 JULY 2026
They Were Dead. Then Messi Happened.
Argentina vs. Switzerland – Quarterfinal, Kansas City Stadium · Saturday, July 11 · 9 p.m. ET
On Tuesday in Atlanta, Argentina were dead.
Down 2-0 to Egypt with eleven minutes left. Messi had missed a penalty earlier. The crowd had gone quiet in that particular way crowds go quiet when they sense an upset is coming and they don’t know how to feel about it. The defending world champions, on the brink of the biggest elimination in modern tournament history.
Then Messi crossed a ball to Romero. Then Messi scored the equalizer, his eighth goal of the tournament. Then Lautaro Martínez supplied Enzo Fernández’s stoppage-time winner that broke Egyptian hearts and kept Argentina’s bicampeonato dream alive.
“We suffered a lot again,” Messi said afterward, “but this is the World Cup.”
On Saturday in Kansas City, Argentina face Switzerland. And if Tuesday taught us anything, it’s that you keep the glass ready until the final whistle. With this Argentina team, you keep it ready beyond that.
What Argentina just survived
Let’s be clear about how close that was. Egypt’s Mostafa Shobeir saved Messi’s penalty in the 21st minute, then kept out Mac Allister and Álvarez before halftime. Argentina created chances all half and couldn’t convert any of them.
Egypt appeared to score a second goal in the 58th minute, but VAR ruled it out for a foul in the buildup. The decision prompted a formal complaint from the Egyptian Football Association, although FIFA’s refereeing chief later defended the call. The reprieve barely mattered. Mostafa Ziko scored nine minutes later anyway, finishing a rapid counterattack involving Salah and Hassan. Egypt 2, Argentina 0, sixty-seven minutes gone.
What followed was one of the great comeback performances of this tournament. Three goals in thirteen minutes, Romero, then Messi, then Fernández in stoppage time. Argentina survived. But they were battered, emotionally drained, and running on something closer to will than fitness by the end.
Which raises a real question for Saturday night.
The Switzerland problem nobody is talking about
Switzerland reached their first World Cup quarterfinal since 1954, when they hosted the tournament, by doing something nobody else at this World Cup has managed: they played 120 goalless minutes against Colombia, kept their nerve in a penalty shootout, and won 4-3 without conceding a single goal across the entire match.
They are not glamorous. What they have is a defensive structure that is genuinely difficult to break down. Manuel Akanji and Nico Elvedi were phenomenal against Colombia. They also bring the penalty shootout composure that comes from a squad built on experience and discipline rather than individual brilliance.
Their breakout attacker Johan Manzambi, three goals and two assists at this tournament, missed the Colombia match with a knee injury, and his availability for Saturday remains uncertain. That is a significant blow to their attacking threat. But Switzerland’s identity has never really been about scoring goals. It has been about not conceding them. Against a tired Argentina, that formula has a real chance to work.
Switzerland’s game plan writes itself: stay compact, absorb pressure, frustrate Messi, keep it level as long as possible, and make Argentina win the match rather than inherit it.
It very nearly worked for Egypt.
The history and the three men who remember it
This is not the first time these teams have met at a World Cup. In the 2014 Round of 16 in São Paulo, Ángel Di María scored in extra time to send Argentina through 1-0 in what became one of the tournament’s defining knockout matches. Switzerland pushed Argentina to the limit that day too.
Remarkably, only three players in the current squads remain from that 2014 meeting: Messi, Granit Xhaka and Ricardo Rodríguez. Twelve years later, a bigger stage, the same opponent. Xhaka will be the one organizing Switzerland’s defensive shape against Messi. He knows exactly what that job requires. He’s done it before.
What Messi is chasing
He has scored in all five of Argentina’s matches at this tournament and in nine consecutive World Cup appearances. At 39 years old, Lionel Messi is doing things at this World Cup that belong in a different conversation entirely.
The missed penalty against Egypt, which would have broken a lesser player, was followed by one of the finest individual contributions of the tournament: the cross for Romero, then the equalizing goal, all within a comeback he inspired before Lautaro Martínez supplied Fernández’s winner.
Switzerland’s defensive structure is the best Argentina will have faced at this tournament. Akanji at center back. Xhaka protecting in midfield. Gregor Kobel in goal, the same Kobel who saved a penalty in the shootout against Colombia. They are organized, physical, and disciplined.
Whether Messi can find the moment that breaks that organization, or whether Argentina can find it without him, is the entire match.
The pour
Saturday at 9 p.m. ET in Kansas City, with Argentina still alive and Switzerland as the unlikeliest quarterfinal opponent of the tournament.
This match could go either way. It could go to extra time. It could go to penalties. What it almost certainly won’t be is boring, not with what Argentina just survived, not with what Switzerland just achieved, and not with Messi on the pitch with the Golden Boot in reach and a second straight World Cup title in the distance.
Have the glass ready. Given what happened Tuesday, have it ready from the first minute.
Kickoff: Saturday, July 11 · 9 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. CT Venue: Kansas City Stadium / Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri Watch: FOX / Telemundo; streaming availability by provider
The Victory Guide — Quarterfinal Edition · delanterogroup.com/victoryguide
There is nothing like the feeling of victory.
Delantero is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by FIFA, the FIFA World Cup, the Argentine Football Association, the Swiss Football Association, FOX, Telemundo, Arrowhead Stadium, or any tournament organizer, team, venue, or broadcaster. Match details are provided for informational and editorial commentary only. Please enjoy responsibly. 21+.
