Alvarez's 112th-minute goal helps lift Argentina into World Cup semifinals

Julián Alvarez sent defending champion Argentina back to the FIFA World Cup 2026 semifinals with a long-range strike in the 112th minute against Switzerland, and another goal by Lautaro Martínez with seconds left in extra time only served to make the 3-1 victory look a whole lot easier than it was Saturday night.

Alexis Mac Allister also scored off a corner kick from Lionel Messi, helping La Albiceleste gut out another down-to-the-wire thriller and advance to play England in Atlanta on Wednesday. The Three Lions beat Norway 2-1 earlier in the day.

“We’re among the best four,” Alvarez said, “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.

“The opponent was really good, but we fought until the end, and finally the goals came.”

Messi’s nine-game World Cup scoring streak ended, but his pursuit of a second World Cup title continues. With Argentina and England joining France and Spain in the semifinals, it’s the first time that the top four teams in the FIFA rankings have all advanced that far.

The game swung in the second half on a call sure to rile up critics who believe that officials favor Argentina.

The Swiss had just tied the game on Dan Ndoye’s goal in the 67th minute when Leandro Paredes was shown a yellow card for a tackle on Breel Embolo, but video showed that the Swiss player fell before the Argentina midfielder made contact with him. Since Embolo received a yellow card earlier in the match, he was sent off, and Switzerland was left to defend with 10 players.

It was the second time that a yellow card has been overturned using the “mistaken identity” protocol at the World Cup. The rule allows the video assistant referee to intervene when an incorrect player is shown a yellow or red card.

“I just don’t understand how VAR can make that kind of decision,” Swiss defender Nico Elvedi said.

Argentina, which is riding a 12-match World Cup unbeaten streak, had looked quite beatable in the knockout rounds. Lionel Scaloni’s squad needed extra time to squeak past tiny Cape Verde before rallying from a 2-0 deficit in the final 11 minutes of regulation to beat Egypt and earn a date with Switzerland at the home of the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Swiss, meanwhile, were playing their first World Cup quarterfinal since 1954. They still have never made a semifinal or beaten Argentina in eight meetings — three of those in the tournament that matters the most.

Argentina has made its base for the past month in Kansas City, training at the home of MLS club Sporting Kansas City while winning over thousands of new fans. And on Saturday night, they filled Arrowhead Stadium for the second time this tournament, hoping to see Messi make more magic after his hat trick against Algeria in the same building a few weeks ago.

It was brutally hot and humid throughout the day, but temperatures began to fall with the setting sun, producing a picturesque setting for the 100th match of an expanded World Cup and the final match of the quarterfinal round.

The defensive-minded Swiss had only conceded three goals in five games, and they dominated the ball in the opening minutes. But leave it to Messi, whose eight goals in the tournament are tied for the most with France’s Kylian Mbappé, to send a jolt through a heavily pro-Argentina crowd that included Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

He helped to earn an early corner kick with some nifty footwork, then delivered the ball that Mac Allister turned into a 1-0 lead.

For most of the match, the Swiss struggled to break down an Argentina back line that had conceded two goals apiece in its last two games. It didn’t help their cause that they were playing without Johan Manzabi, one of their best goal-scorers, who remained out with a knee injury after missing their Round of 16 penalty shootout win over Colombia.

But after forcing Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez into making a couple of tough second-half saves, the Swiss broke through when Ricardo Rodriguez slipped a tidy pass to Ndoye, and he easily found the back of the net.

Whatever momentum the equalizer gave the Swiss disappeared with Embolo’s red card a few minutes later.

Argentina turned up the pressure with Mac Allister missing wide with a header in the 89th minute, and Messi creating an opportunity in front of the goal that he sent just wide in the second minute of stoppage time, leaving the game tied into extra time.

Just as they have all tournament, La Albiceleste found a way to keep their quest for back-to-back championships alive.

“We knew this could happen,” Argentina midfielder Thiago Almada said. “They have top players, very good position. They were trying to find people inside. We knew how to hold up, and we made it through.”

AP