Julian Alvarez’s late stunner paves way for Argentina’s entry into World Cup semi-final | Football

Argentina scraped their way past Switzerland in the FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-final, registering a 3-1 victory and making their way into the semi-final of the tournament. It is worth noting that Argentina opened the scoring, with Mac Allister scoring from a corner in the early stages. 

However, Switzerland equalised with Dan Ndoye scoring in the 67th minute of the game. Furthermore, Breel Embolo’s red card opened the game up for the defending champions. Switzerland attempted to defend the goal with 10 men and took the game into extra time. 

With Argentina aiming to find a goal, it was Julian Alvarez’s masterclass and a long-shot curler that helped the defending champions take the lead in the 112th minute. Furthermore, Lautaro Martinez rubbed salt into Swiss wounds by making it 3-1 in the final minute of the game. 

With the win secured, Argentina has booked their berth in the semi-final of the tournament. They will be taking on England in the semi-final on July 16, and both sides will look to put in their best performance as they will aim to book their place in the summit clash of the tournament. It could be interesting to see how they fare against England who look to be in top form at the moment.

Lionel Scaloni opened up on outside noise ahead of Switzerland game

Before the clash against Switzerland, Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni took centre stage and talked about the outside noise that is affecting the side. He also opened up on the allegations of the defending champions rigging matches as well. 

“The thing is, we might have a lot more people who don’t want us to win because we won the last one, and well, we take that into account. Yeah, it gets to the players. We use the criticisms or comments that are made to reveal ourselves. To stage a rebellion and have the players play even better,” Scaloni said in the pre-match press conference.

“Argentina has always been talked about, and that’s because we’ve always been the ones to liven up these tournaments, and maybe it’s because we come from winning the last cup,” he added. 

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