{"id":919577,"date":"2026-07-13T16:19:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T21:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/lionel-messi-argentina-march-on-to-world-cup-semifinals-mlssoccer-com\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T16:19:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T21:19:06","slug":"lionel-messi-argentina-march-on-to-world-cup-semifinals-mlssoccer-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/lionel-messi-argentina-march-on-to-world-cup-semifinals-mlssoccer-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi, Argentina march on to World Cup semifinals | MLSSoccer.com"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer <\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Argentina advanced to the 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/fifa-world-cup\/\">FIFA World Cup<\/a> semifinals after defeating Switzerland, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/fifa-world-cup\/2026\/matches\/argvssui-07-11-2026\/\">3-1<\/a>, in extra time during the quarterfinals Saturday night at Kansas City Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>The defending World Cup champions will meet England in Atlanta on Wednesday for the right to take on either France or Spain in the World Cup final next Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/lionel-messi\/\">Lionel Messi<\/a> extended a World Cup record with his 10th career assist in the competition when Alexis Mac Allister headed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/inter-miami-cf\/\">Inter Miami<\/a> star&#8217;s corner kick inside the far post to put Argentina in front early.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Dan Ndoye leveled for Switzerland in the 67th minute, clinically finishing a give-and-go from Ricardo Rodr\u00edguez.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Five minutes later, Switzerland were reduced to 10 men when Breel Embolo was sent off for a second bookable offense.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>La Albiceleste probed for the go-ahead goal for the rest of regulation and most of extra time, before finally breaking through in the 112th minute on Juli\u00e1n \u00c1lvarez&#8217;s golazo.<\/p>\n<p>Lautaro Mart\u00ednez tacked on an insurance goal in the 121st minute to secure Argentina&#8217;s spot in the semifinals.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h3>Goals<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>10&#8242; &#8211; ARG &#8211; Alexis Mac Allister | <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FOXSports\/status\/2076112349816041870\">WATCH<\/a><\/li>\n<li>67&#8242; &#8211; SUI &#8211; Dan Ndoye | <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FOXSports\/status\/2076131936129499538\">WATCH<\/a><\/li>\n<li>112&#8242; &#8211; ARG &#8211; Juli\u00e1n \u00c1lvarez | <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FOXSports\/status\/2076147973654814753\">WATCH<\/a><\/li>\n<li>120+1&#8242; &#8211; ARG &#8211; Lautaro Mart\u00ednez | <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FOXSports\/status\/2076150269675487449\">WATCH<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\n                                <iframe data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FGhW41kIpgQ?feature=oembed\" allowfullscreen title=\"Argentina vs Switzerland Highlights \ud83c\udf0e\ud83c\udfc6 2026 FIFA World Cup\u2122 | Quarterfinals\"><\/iframe>\n                            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h3>Three Things<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>THE BIG PICTURE:<\/strong> When Argentina scored just 10 minutes into the match, it appeared it would be smooth sailing to the semifinals. Instead, they had to suffer before finally pulling out a win in extra time, setting up an epic semifinal against familiar foe England.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<blockquote>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Semifinals are set. Who will meet in the Final? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nblj4mtU98\">pic.twitter.com\/nblj4mtU98<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 FOX Sports (@FOXSports) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FOXSports\/status\/2076150655560102121?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 12, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>MOMENT OF THE MATCH:<\/strong> With Argentina fans everywhere fearing the possibility of a penalty-kick shootout, Juli\u00e1n \u00c1lvarez alleviated the tension with this thunderous strike.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<div>\n<blockquote>\n<p lang=\"ro\" dir=\"ltr\">A SENSATIONAL GOAL FROM JULI\u00c1N ALVAREZ TO PUT ARGENTINA IN FRONT IN EXTRA TIME \ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddf7 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/J3Ql16XwX3\">pic.twitter.com\/J3Ql16XwX3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 FOX Sports (@FOXSports) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FOXSports\/status\/2076147973654814753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 12, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>MAN OF THE MATCH:<\/strong> \u00c1lvarez might not score a better or more important goal for Argentina than the extra-time golazo that kept the dream of back-to-back World Cup titles alive.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h3>Next Up\u00a0<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>ARG:<\/strong> Wednesday, July 15 vs. England &#8211; 3 pm ET | Semifinals<\/li>\n<li><strong>SUI:<\/strong> End of tournament<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/fifa-world-cup\/news\/argentina-lionel-messi-march-on-to-world-cup-semifinals\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a>Jeanice Haslett<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer Argentina advanced to the 2026 FIFA World Cup semifinals after defeating Switzerland, 3-1, in extra time during the quarterfinals Saturday night at Kansas City Stadium. The defending World Cup champions will meet England in Atlanta on Wednesday for the right to take on either France or Spain in the World Cup final next Sunday.\u00a0 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":919578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22672,22673,2005],"tags":[82301,42860],"class_list":["post-919577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lionel","category-messi","category-soccer","tag-lionel","tag-messi"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}