Defending champion Argentina survived a feisty Switzerland side in extra time to book a semifinal ticket in the FIFA World Cup, winning 3-1 before 69,045 fans at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City on Saturday (Sunday, July 12, 2026, Philippine time).
Match details
The match was tied at 1-1 for much of the second half and extra time. Argentina pulled off another comeback with Julián Álvarez scoring the go-ahead goal, while Lautaro Martínez added another goal with seconds left in extra time.
“We’re among the best four,” Álvarez said in an ESPN report. “So we’re meeting our objectives and we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. The whole match was hard and we would have loved to have the win earlier, but we tried to get the win however we could.”
Argentina's path to the semifinals
This was not the first time in this year’s World Cup that Argentina were on the brink of elimination, but they managed to pull off a fightback that turned their fate around. Argentina needed extra time to beat Cape Verde, a miraculous comeback from a 0-2 deficit against Egypt in the Round of 16, and a late surge against Switzerland.
Upcoming matches
Argentina will face England in the semifinals on Wednesday (Thursday, Philippine time) at Atlanta Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. England made it to the semis after beating Norway 2-1 in their separate match earlier in the day.
Meanwhile, France and Spain will play in a separate semifinal match, a day before the Argentina-England duel.
Argentina is chasing its fourth FIFA World Cup title this year, having won in 1978, 1986, and 2022.
