Lionel Messi was not the top scorer at the World Cup for the first time, but Argentina achieved its goal and reached the semi-finals of the World Cup the hard way.
They will play England, the big derby of world football, on Wednesday at 21 pm. France and Spain meet the day before at the same time.
The Argentines are the current champions, but just like against Egypt before that, they shook Cape Verde before reaching the big victory - it was 3:1 after 120 minutes.
The savior of the "gauchos" was Julián Álvarez, who scored a Euro goal in the 112th minute, and Lautaro Martínez put an end to the triumph in stoppage time of the second extra time.
Argentina took an early lead, as early as the 10th minute when Alexis McAllister scored from Messi's cross, and it seemed that Lionel Scaloni's team knew the path they should routinely take to "fly" to the semifinals.
In the first part he was in control, and in the second part he was completely the opposite.
Thus, Switzerland deservedly equalized in the 62nd minute through Dan Endo, and then came the moment that set the course for the rest of the match.
Bril Embolo received a second yellow card for simulating a foul on Leandro Paredes, and it is interesting that the referee first gave a public warning to the Boca Juniors midfielder.
After watching the video, everything became clear - Embolo had to be sent off, so he went to the locker room on the verge of a nervous breakdown and in tears.
For almost 25 minutes, Argentina was futile in attacking and trying to solve everything in the regular period, but what they failed to do in 90 minutes, they made up for in the extra 30.
After the corner kick, Alvarez moved the ball towards the edge of the penalty area and hit the far corner, and it was then clear that the numerically weakened and already tired Swiss could not come back.
Argentina had another chance, Messi was blocked by Granit Xhaka, and then Martinez scored after an action by Thiago Almada - that was it.
Messi did not score a goal, remaining at eight, but he certainly made history by recording his 10th assist at the World Cup.
He is the record holder for that, with the famous German Fritz Walter remaining at nine.
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