Julian Alvarez (AP Photo)
Defending champions Argentina beat Switzerland 3-1 after extra time to book their place in the semi-finals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Saturday.Julian Alvarez opened the scoring in the 112th minute with a stunning long-range shot before Lautaro Martinez added the third goal in the final moments of extra time.
Argentina will now face England in the semi-finals on Wednesday after the Three Lions beat Norway 2-1 earlier in the day.
McAllister gives Argentina the early lead
Argentina started the match brilliantly and took the lead in the tenth minute.Lionel Messi sent in a corner kick from the left, and Alexis McAllister slotted home to put the defending champions ahead.
Messi did not score in the match, ending his streak of goals in nine World Cup matches, but he still played a major role in Argentina’s victory.
Switzerland fights back before the red card
Switzerland refused to give up and equalized in the 67th minute through Dan Ndoye.But the match changed dramatically after a few minutes.
Leandro Paredes initially received a yellow card after a strong challenge on Briel Embolo. After a VAR review, officials decided Embolo was down before any contact was made.As Embolo had already been booked earlier in the match, the yellow card was passed on to him under FIFA’s ‘mistaken identity’ protocol.
This became his second yellow card, and Switzerland was reduced to 10 men.This was only the second time in World Cup history that the ‘mistaken identity’ rule had been used to overturn a yellow card decision.
Argentina increases the number of players
Despite the numerical superiority, Argentina had to wait until extra time to achieve the difference.Finally, Julian Alvarez put his team back in front with a wonderful shot from long range in the 112th minute.With Switzerland looking to equalize again, Lautaro Martinez scored a goal in extra time to seal a 3-1 win.
Argentina continues its unbeaten run
Argentina extended their unbeaten run at the FIFA World Cup to 12 matches.
The defending champions had to work hard in the knockout stages, needing extra time to beat Cape Verde before coming back from a two-goal deficit against Egypt in the round of 16.Against Switzerland, they once again found a way to win and keep their dream of retaining the World Cup alive.The win also means that the top four teams in the FIFA rankings – Argentina, England, France and Spain – have all reached the semi-finals.