KANSAS CITY, Mo. — This was not the first time Argentina had come to the brink in this FIFA World Cup.
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First, the defending champions needed extra time to escape Cape Verde, the Cinderella story of this tournament. Then, they needed a miraculous comeback to overcome a 0-2 deficit to Egypt in the Round of 16.
In Saturday’s quarterfinal in Kansas City, the stood on the edge once again, trapped in a 1-1 tie for much of the second half and extra time against a feisty Switzerland team that would not lie down — even once they were playing down a man and a loss seemed inevitable.
In the end, after 30 minutes of extra time, Argentina prevailed 3-1 to earn a spot in the World Cup semifinals. They will face England (which also needed extra time Saturday to defeat Norway) on Wednesday in Atlanta.
Of the 69,045 people who packed into the stands of Arrowhead Stadium on a hot and humid Missouri night, thousands wore the jersey of the sport’s singular star: Lionel Messi, the 39-year-old forward for Argentina.
But it was forward Julián Alvarez who saved the day for his team and his country, sending a right-footed rocket to the far upper corner of the goal in the 112th minute. Then, in the 121st minute, a cherry on top from Lautaro Martínez sealed the game.
Messi contributed only an early-game assist. He had scored a goal in a record nine straight World Cup games — this is his first game in 10 matches in which he did not.
Alvarez’s goal capped an increasingly desperate effort by Argentina to keep the game from going to penalty kicks. It had taken an early 1-0 lead in the 10th minute, when midfielder Alexis Mac Allister headed a Messi corner kick into the net. (That was Messi’s 10th career World Cup assist, all of them to different players.)
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Yet Argentina could not add to that lead in the first half, or the second. Instead, a clinical and determined Swiss side found enough gaps in Argentina’s defense to threaten repeatedly, before finally forward Dan Ndoye slipped a shot under the leg of Swiss goalkeeper Gregor Kobel to tie the match 1-1.
But soon after Switzerland’s equalizer came the game’s pivotal development: Swiss forward Breel Embolo was sent off after a video review showed he had faked a fall.
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It was Embolo’s second yellow card of the game — the first had come late in the first half when he was late to challenge Argentinian midfielder Leandro Paredes — meaning it would be treated as a red card, and Switzerland would have to play the remainder of the game down a man.
The shocked and crying Embolo had to be led off the field, his face crumpled and head in hands, by teammates and into the locker room.
Instantly, the decision sparked debate among analysts and fans. Were both calls fair, and the outcome an acceptable consequence? Or was dooming Switzerland to a shorthanded quarterfinal a punishment that did not match the crime of a single theatrical fall to the ground, something that happens a dozen times a game?
But no debate will keep Argentina from another World Cup semifinal. And for Messi, that means two more chances — the semifinal against England, then either the final or the third-place playoff — to pad his lead in the record for career World Cup goals scored, at 21.
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