Switzerland Returns to World Cup Quarterfinals, Faces Argentina

Switzerland will meet Argentina in the World Cup quarterfinals on Saturday after a Tuesday that delivered two of the knockout stage’s most dramatic matches. The Swiss advanced to the last eight for the first time since 1954, beating Colombia 4-3 in a penalty shootout in Vancouver after a 0-0 draw that went the full 120 minutes. The reward is a date in Kansas City with defending champions Argentina, who earlier in Atlanta completed a three-goal comeback against Egypt to win 3-2 in stoppage time.

The day exposed how thin the line between exit and survival has become at this World Cup. Argentina, chasing to become the first team to win back-to-back titles since Brazil in 1958 and 1962, trailed 2-0 with eleven minutes of regulation left, saw a Messi penalty saved and a second Messi effort hit a post, and still pulled level by the 83rd minute and won in injury time.

A 72-Year Wait Ends in Vancouver

Switzerland’s last appearance in a World Cup quarterfinal came at the tournament it hosted in 1954, when the side fell 7-5 to Austria in what remains the highest-scoring game in the competition’s history. Seventy-two years later, in the last last-16 tie of this tournament to be staged outside the United States, the Swiss produced a defensive display that owed less to attacking flair and more to goalkeeper Gregor Kobel and the wall in front of him. Both teams had conceded just once across their previous four matches coming in, and a tight, scoreless evening in Vancouver reflected that. By the end of normal time, the expected-goals count stood at 0.39 to Switzerland and 1.09 to Colombia, a 32-shot stalemate that needed penalties to settle.

Colombian supporters, who had filled much of the stands in Vancouver, saw their team carve out the better of the chances across the 120 minutes and fail to convert any of them. Defender Jhon Lucumi headed against the bar from a corner in extra time, substitute Jaminton Campaz spurned a glorious opportunity with five minutes of the second period of extra time remaining, and Luis Diaz, the Colombian winger who had lit up the group stage, was kept quiet for most of the evening. Switzerland, for their part, rarely threatened to score from open play, with only the late penalty interventions to break the deadlock.

In the end, the match was decided at the spot, where Switzerland’s goalkeeper guessed right and one Swiss attacker buried a fifth kick into the corner. Kobel saved Cucho Hernandez’s penalty, the second Colombian miss of the shootout after Davinson Sanchez had already sent his effort off target, and Ruben Vargas, an attacker by trade, took the Swiss’ fifth penalty and beat Camilo Vargas convincingly to make it 4-3 and send the Swiss through.

A Goalless Night That Almost Had a Winner

The first real action came in the 21st minute, when Kobel had to dive at full stretch to keep out Gustavo Puerta’s curling effort from the edge of the penalty area. Switzerland upped the tempo after the first hydration break, and Colombian goalkeeper Camilo Vargas beat away a Fabian Rieder shot before denying Dan Ndoye. The pattern held into the second half, with both teams trading moments of pressure but struggling to fashion clear openings.

Luis Suarez, the Colombian forward, lashed wastefully wide, and both coaches went to their benches in search of a breakthrough. The Swiss started the second half on the front foot, but Colombia also had their moments, with Luis Diaz kept quiet throughout. The closest either side came to a 90th-minute winner was Ndoye’s stoppage-time effort flashed across the face of goal, with no Swiss runner able to get on the end of it. The match was goalless at the end of normal time, with two well-matched teams struggling for inspiration.

The game belatedly burst into life in extra time. Lucumi’s header from a corner came back off the bar in the 99th minute, and Kobel was called on again to keep out a fierce strike from Campaz.

At the other end, Camilo Vargas dived to his left to beat away an effort from substitute Zeki Amdouni. Campaz then missed a glorious chance to win the game with five minutes of the second period of extra time left on the clock. With no separation across 120 minutes, the match went to penalties.

How the Shootout Played Out

The penalty list from Vancouver was a study in tension, with both teams missing and both goalkeepers getting a hand on the ball, as the penalty sequence from the match shows. Xhaka opened the scoring for Switzerland, with Quintero matching him for Colombia, before Amdouni put the Swiss 2-1 up and Sanchez blazed his effort off target to hand Switzerland the advantage.

Akanji became the first Swiss player to miss in the third round, with his effort kept out, and Campaz levelled the shootout at 2-2. Itten made it 3-2 to Switzerland with their fourth. The decisive moment came in the fourth round for Colombia: Kobel guessed right to save Hernandez’s effort, and Vargas sent Camilo Vargas the wrong way to seal a 4-3 win and a place in the quarterfinals. Diaz had already converted his penalty in the fifth round, but by then the shootout was settled.

Argentina’s Stoppage-Time Escape in Atlanta

Hours before Switzerland kicked off in Vancouver, Argentina were staring at a very different kind of exit. Trailing Egypt 2-0 with eleven minutes of regulation left, having already seen a Messi penalty saved by Mostafa Shobeir in the first half and another Messi effort hit the post, the defending champions looked to be heading home. Cape Verde pushed them to a 3-2 win in extra time in the previous round, and a second African scalp in a row looked on the cards. Argentina had barely mustered a shot on target in the second half, and a stunned silence was settling over the Atlanta crowd.

The rally started in the 79th minute, when Cristian Romero headed Argentina back into the game. Messi then equalised in the 83rd, his eighth goal of the tournament and a record-extending 21st World Cup goal, and the captain was in tears at the final whistle.

The winner came two minutes into stoppage time, when Enzo Fernandez rose to head in Lautaro Martinez’s cross, sealing Argentina’s 3-2 win in Atlanta that kept their bid to retain the trophy alive. Their bid to be the first team to win back-to-back World Cup titles since Brazil in 1958 and 1962 had looked all but dead, and Scaloni was visibly emotional at the final whistle. “I can’t look up, I’m sorry. I’m really emotional right now. What a group of players, man. That’s it, I’ve got to go,” he told reporters.

For Egypt, the defeat came with controversy. Coach Hossam Hassan pointed to a disallowed goal for a foul in the build-up to a Mostafa Zico finish and a denied penalty appeal in the second half, and a member of his coaching staff was red-carded in the aftermath of the winning goal.

We have been treated unfairly today. We have suffered injustice.

Egypt coach Hossam Hassan said the disallowed goal and the denied penalty in the second half were the basis of his grievance, and that his side had beat Australia on penalties to reach the last 16 in the previous round.

Shobeir’s Stand and Messi’s Records

The day in Atlanta produced a handful of records, none bigger than those belonging to Argentina’s captain. Messi became the first player to miss two penalties in a single World Cup after his first-half effort was kept out by Shobeir, having also failed from the spot against Austria in the group stage. He has now missed four of his eight non-shootout penalties at World Cups, and has now scored in a ninth consecutive World Cup game, retaking the lead in the Golden Boot race with eight goals.

Shobeir, the 26-year-old Egyptian goalkeeper, became only the fourth keeper to save two penalties in games at a single World Cup, joining Jan Tomaszewski, Brad Friedel, and Wojciech Szczesny. He had also saved a penalty from Mehdi Taremi of Iran in the group stage. Fernandez, who headed in the winner, also wrote his name into the competition’s record book: his goal was the 3,000th in World Cup history.

The three records fell in the same eleven-minute window that turned the match. Messi, Fernandez, and Shobeir each wrote a line of history in Atlanta, in a single late burst that flipped a defeat into a quarterfinal place.

Saturday in Kansas City, and a 1954 Echo

Switzerland’s reward for a defensive display is a meeting with the reigning champions. The quarterfinal kicks off at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City on Saturday at 9 p.m. ET, and pits the side that last reached this round in 1954, as hosts, against the team chasing to become the first back-to-back World Cup winners since Brazil in 1958 and 1962. Argentina are heavy favourites. Switzerland has already done something it had not done in seven decades, and a second upset on Saturday would put them into the semifinals.

Scaloni was asked about the comeback against Egypt and gave a brief answer. “I can’t look up, I’m sorry. I’m really emotional right now. What a group of players, man. That’s it, I’ve got to go.” Argentina, in other words, are still standing, and on Saturday they will be in Kansas City waiting for a Swiss side that, against all expectations, has booked a date 72 years in the making.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the Argentina vs Switzerland quarterfinal?

The match is on Saturday, 12 July 2026, at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. Kickoff is 9 p.m. ET.

How did Switzerland beat Colombia?

Switzerland won 4-3 on penalties after a 0-0 draw that went 120 minutes in Vancouver. Gregor Kobel saved Cucho Hernandez’s penalty, and Ruben Vargas converted the decisive fifth spot kick.

How did Argentina beat Egypt?

Argentina came back from 2-0 down in the final 11 minutes of regulation and stoppage time. Cristian Romero headed in the 79th minute, Lionel Messi equalised in the 83rd, and Enzo Fernandez completed the comeback in the 90+2 minute with a header.

When did Switzerland last reach a World Cup quarterfinal?

Switzerland has not been in a World Cup quarterfinal since 1954, when the country hosted the tournament and lost 7-5 to Austria in the highest-scoring match in the competition’s history.

Who scored for Argentina against Egypt?

Cristian Romero in the 79th minute, Lionel Messi in the 83rd, and Enzo Fernandez in the 90+2 minute. Egypt’s goals came from Yasser Ibrahim in the 15th and Mostafa Ziko in the 67th.