Messi survives another near-death experience! Argentina's next opponent is Switzerland, the '72-year-old grudge' they aim to settle... World Cup quarterfinal matchups confirmed

*This content was translated by AI.

The World Cup quarterfinal matchups have been finalized. The 'God of Football' Lionel Messi (Inter Miami), continuing his last dance journey, will face Switzerland, the 'European dark horse.'

Messi's homeland Argentina defeated Egypt 3-2 in the 2026 FIFA North American World Cup Round of 16 match held on the 8th (Korea time) at Atlanta Stadium in the United States. Having previously reached the summit at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Argentina advanced to the quarterfinals and continued its bid for back-to-back titles.

Argentina, considered a strong favorite to win this tournament, appeared to show powerful form as expected after recording three consecutive victories in Group J of the group stage.

However, since entering the tournament's knockout phase, they have been engaged in a grueling battle. In the Round of 32, they defeated Cape Verde, making its World Cup debut, with a 3-2 victory after an extra-time bloodbath. Cape Verde goalkeeper Bouchaib, who has emerged as this tournament's biggest surprise star, pushed Messi and Argentina to the brink.

This Round of 16 match was even more difficult. Argentina fell behind early, conceding the first goal in the 15th minute of the first half. In the 21st minute while trailing 0-1, Messi missed a penalty kick. This miss gave Messi the dishonorable record of being the first player in World Cup history to miss two penalty kicks in a single tournament. Earlier, Messi had also missed a penalty kick during the Group J match against Austria in this tournament.

Messi's penalty kick success rate on the World Cup stage is not particularly good. He has previously missed penalty kicks in the 2018 Russia World Cup group stage match against Iceland and the 2022 Qatar World Cup group stage match against Poland.

In the 31st minute of the first half, Messi's free kick from a distance struck the goalpost and came out, adding to his frustration again. Needing an equalizer, Argentina instead conceded another goal in the 22nd minute of the second half, falling behind 0-2. Even by the 34th minute of the second half, Argentina was trailing by two goals.

However, with only 11 minutes remaining, Argentina wrote an unbelievable miracle. At the center was Messi. In the 34th minute of the second half, Messi assisted Christian Romero's equalizing goal, shifting the momentum. Then, in the 38th minute, he scored the equalizer himself. Inside the penalty box, Messi connected with a back-pass from Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan) and fired a left-footed shot into the net.

Argentina secured a thrilling 3-2 comeback victory with Enzo Fernandez (Chelsea)'s header goal in the second half's added time of the 2nd minute, receiving Martinez's cross. Messi and Argentina survived another near-death experience.

Messi also celebrated with tears in his eyes. Adding one more goal today, Messi moved to the top of the scoring chart alone with eight goals in the North American World Cup. He also extended his all-time World Cup record for most goals to 21.

Messi's opponent in the quarterfinals is Switzerland. Today, Switzerland drew 0-0 with Colombia over 120 minutes including extra time in their Round of 16 match and won 4-3 in a penalty shootout. This marked Switzerland's first appearance in the World Cup quarterfinals since their 1954 host tournament, 72 years later. Previously, Switzerland defeated Algeria in the Round of 32, winning their first World Cup knockout stage match since 1938, 88 years ago.

Switzerland, continuing to write miracles, also dreams of the same scenario against Argentina in the quarterfinals. The quarterfinal match between Argentina and Switzerland will be held on the 12th at Kansas City Stadium in the United States.

The winner of the Argentina-Switzerland match will face the winner of the Norway-England match in the semifinals. Norway's Erling Haaland (Manchester City) and England's Harry Kane (Bayern Munich) are considered their teams' top stars. While Messi leads the scoring chart with eight goals in this tournament, Haaland has seven goals and Kane has six, chasing closely. The race for the Golden Boot is also heating up.

The other quarterfinal matchups are also interesting. Kylian Mbappe's France will face Morocco, considered Africa's strongest team. A showdown between European powerhouses Spain and Belgium has also been confirmed.

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*This content was translated by AI.