5 Things we learned from Argentina’s late extra-time win over Switzerland
They love to leave it late. As if Argentina hadn’t put their fans through enough they yet again left it late seal a spot in the semi-finals, whilst Switzerland started off the stronger team in the opening minutes it was the World champions who opened the scoring as Messi’s corner was headed in superbly by Mac Allister at the near-post. Switzerland continued to look the better team but lacked any real threat as their talisman Johan Manzambi missed his second game in a row with a knee injury, as the game went on the Swiss were getting closer and closer to the equaliser with last-ditch blocks from the Argentina defenders keeping them just in front in the second half. That was until the 67th minute when Dan Ndoye played a 1-2 with Ricardo Rodriguez on the left-wing before finishing low under Emi Martinez to equalise for Switzerland, not even a minute later everything went wrong for the Swiss as initially Leandro Paredes was booked for a challenge on Breel Embolo but the replay actually showed that Embolo had dived to win the free-kick. The referee was then sent to the monitor under the mistaken identity law and thus issued Breel Embolo a second yellow card for a pretty shocking dive to be honest, the right call but one that will have the conspiracy theorists running wild. Argentina pushed for the winner and had some great chances but we were once again bound for extra-time, as extra-time went on it looked like we were bound for penalties until the 112th minute when the ball was played to Julian Alvarez on the edge of the box who curled an absolute beauty into the top corner to give the World champions the lead. As Switzerland pushed for the equaliser late on Argentina nabbed another as Almada made a meal of a 3 v 1 on the counter but the ball luckily fell to Lautaro Martinez who rolled Argentina into the semi-finals, this World Cup must be taking years off the Argentina fans.
Can Argentina keep this up all tournament? You do feel at some point this Argentina team will get found out with the way they’ve been playing but they just know how to get over the line in these knockout games and that’s invaluable at a World Cup, again for most of this game they were second best and I was surprised with Scaloni keeping the same starting 11 from the Egypt game as they were awful for 75 minutes of that game. The midfield just isn’t working and I’d be shocked if Scaloni kept it the same against England on Wednesday as that’s arguably were they are the strongest, you’ve got the likes of Nico Paz, Giuliano Simeone, Valentin Barco etc who could add such much needed youth and legs into this side but Scaloni just doesn’t want to use them and I think it’s gonna cost them in the semi-final. Defensively they did look a bit shakier than usual today but I thought Lisandro Martinez was excellent at the back and saved Argentina a number of times when it looked like Switzerland were gonna score, Messi probably had his quietest game of the tournament so far but still has such a big impact on this team and will have to do so again if they are to beat England on Wednesday. The goal from Alvarez was spectacular and something we haven’t seen from him so far this tournament so hopefully this gives him confidence to bring into the semi-final because Argentina need him at his best, can Argentina continue this dream run to the final? I’m not so sure.
Switzerland’s run comes to an end. I can’t help but feel sorry for the Swiss as up until the red card they were the better team in my opinion, they created a number of chances that on another day would have put them in the lead but one stupid decision from Embolo basically killed their their chances of going through to the semi-finals. I don’t care what anyone tells me the referee made the right decision to send Embolo off after a disgraceful dive but he obviously wasn’t aware of the new rules that meant that a second yellow card could be issued by the referee after a VAR check, he undoubtedly cost his team but even down to 10-men I thought Switzerland looked fairly comfortable before a piece of genius from Alvarez ultimately decided the game. I can’t help but wonder what this Swiss team would have been like had Manzambi been fit for this game as he’s been a joy to watch at this tournament and added some much needed dynamism to the Swiss attack, a shame but he’s got a big future ahead of him for club and country so I look forward to seeing his development wherever he goes this summer. Overall it’s been a successful World Cup for Switzerland where we’ve seen some breakout talents led by the veterans, lets hope there’s more to come over the next few tournaments?
The semi-finals are now set. We now know who our semi-finalists are for this World Cup with France taking on Spain and England facing Argentina in a few days, it’s the first time in World Cup history that the teams ranked 1,2,3 and 4 in FIFA’s ranking actually make the top 4 teams in the World Cup and I do think they’ve been the best teams we’ve seen at the tournament. France vs Spain is on Tuesday and will probably determine who the favourites are going into the World Cup final whilst Argentina face England on Wednesday in a game steeped with history throughout the World Cup, I’d say that France are just favourites to go through against Spain whilst I’d put England as favourites against Argentina just based off the performances we’ve seen in the knockouts thus far. I’m sure both games will have plenty of drama so I can’t wait to see what the semi-finals have in store for us next week.
How do Argentina beat England? If Argentina are to through to another World Cup final I think Scaloni has to make changes on Wednesday, the midfield is severely lacking legs and up against most likely Rice and Anderson you need to have running power in that midfield which Argentina simply don’t have. Rdorigo De Paul has been poor in this tournament so far in my opinion so I’d be tempted to look at the likes of Nico Paz, Giovani Lo Celso or even Exequiel Palacios to come in for him whilst at the back I think Tagliafico could get eaten alive by Saka but they haven’t got anyone else so they’ll have to double up on him every time he gets the ball. Going forward Argentina can definitely hurt England in particular in transition where we’ve seen England struggle so far in this tournament so it goes without saying that they’ll have to try and limit Messi wherever possible on the ball as he’ll kill you every time he gets it, they’ll also need the likes of Alvarez, Fernandez, Lautaro all to step up alongside Messi if they are to get through on Wednesday. Whilst I’d put England as favourites you’d be stupid to bet against Argentina given what we’ve seen so far at this tournament, it should be a fun one on Wednesday. Here’s hoping.