KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — On one side of the field will be Argentina, the defending World Cup champions, boasting a roster that features the likes of Lautaro Martinez, Julián Alvarez and, of course, Lionel Messi, perhaps the greatest player of his generation.
On the other side, Switzerland.
Yes, the final quarterfinal match Saturday night could hardly seem a bigger mismatch. Argentina has the glitz and the glamor, to say nothing of the stars and the trophies,
while the Swiss have never even reached the World Cup semifinals; in fact, they haven't been to the quarterfinals since 1954, when they lost to Austria in a tournament they hosted.
But anything can happen on the field as Argentina and the rest of the world learned when the three-time champions struggled to beat Cape Verde, and when La Albiceleste had to rally from a 2-0 deficit in the final 11 minutes to beat Egypt on Tuesday. And that has given hope to a Switzerland team that beat Colombia on penalty kicks to earn a date with the Argentines at Arrowhead Stadium.
“We know Argentina has many fine qualities. Few talk about the Swiss qualities,” defensive midfielder and team captain Granit Xhaka said Friday. “Tomorrow we will talk on the pitch, and we will show what we can do, and everything else doesn’t matter.”
The winner will play either Norway or England on Wednesday in Atlanta for a spot in the World Cup final.
“It's obviously a very tough challenge,” Switzerland defender Manuel Akanji said, “but I think we're ready. I think we can play against any opponent and make it hard for them. We know it's going to be difficult but we're going to give our best.”
Everything starts on defense for Switzerland, which has allowed only three goals in five matches, and which shut out Luis Díaz and Colombia for 120 minutes in the round of 16. The job of stopping Messi's charmed World Cup will fall on the shoulders of Xhaka and Akanji, along with Remo Freuler, Nico Elvedi and goalkeeper Gregor Kobel.
Meanwhile, La Albiceleste is riding an 11-match World Cup unbeaten streak dating to 2022 in Qatar, and they've scored multiple goals in each of those games, which ties them with Uruguay for the longest such streak in tournament history.
Messi, who had a hat trick against Algeria in a group match at Arrowhead Stadium, is even with France forward Kylian Mbappe with eight goals apiece in their race for the Golden Boot. The 39-year-old Argentina captain has scored a record 21 goals in his World Cup career, and that includes at least one in a record six consecutive knockout matches.
Messi's goal against Egypt leveled the game in the 83rd minute before Enzo Fernández delivered the winner in stoppage time.
“Especially for those players on the bench, the players who watch Lionel Messi play and can't believe what they're watching — he should be a role model for them,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said. “He tries again and again, and I get goosebumps.”
He might give goosebumps to his own side, but Messi sends a different kind of chill through the opposition.
“I don't know that we can stop him over 90 minutes. It's going to be difficult,” Xhaka said. “But we have to be smart, compact, close the gaps and not give him too many spaces. We just try to play our game."
Argentina appears to be healthy going into the match, but Switzerland will once again be without midfielder Johan Manzabi because of a knee injury. The SC Freiburg star scored two goals in a 4-1 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina in the group stage.
“We tried everything we could to get him back in peak form,” Switzerland coach Murat Yakin said. “Momentum was on his side, and there was so much joy when he plays, and he has his teammates by his side. Everything worked out so well for him until now.”
One of the big concerns for games in Kansas City had been the weather, not only because of severe storms in the Heartland but also heat indexes that frequently top triple digits in the summer. But temps should be in the upper 80s Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) for the start of the match with only a slight chance of precipitation.
Several games throughout the World Cup have found the spotlight cast on the referee, but FIFA decided to turn attention there before this match began. Usually, FIFA tries to appoint referees from different confederations to avoid any potential bias. But it will be João Pinheiro of Portugal — like Switzerland, a UEFA nation — who will be monitoring the action Saturday night.
___
See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here
