{"id":2245,"date":"2026-07-12T13:18:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T13:18:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/?p=2245"},"modified":"2026-07-12T13:30:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T13:30:22","slug":"lionel-messi-leads-argentina-against-switzerland-in-world-cup-quarter-final-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/07\/12\/lionel-messi-leads-argentina-against-switzerland-in-world-cup-quarter-final-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi Leads Argentina Against Switzerland in World Cup Quarter-Final Clash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/07\/12\/argentinas-extra-time-surge-ends-swiss-resistance-to-clinch-england-semi-final\/\" class=\"auto-internal-link\" title=\"Argentina\u2019s Extra-Time Surge Ends Swiss Resistance to Clinch England Semi-Final\">Lionel Messi<\/a> will attempt to guide Argentina into the <a href=\"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/07\/12\/england-and-argentina-set-for-semi-final-clash-as-expanded-world-cup-enters-final-week\/\" class=\"auto-internal-link\" title=\"England and Argentina Set for Semi-Final Clash as Expanded World Cup Enters Final Week\">semi-finals<\/a> of the World Cup when they take on <a href=\"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/07\/12\/argentinas-extra-time-surge-ends-swiss-resistance-to-clinch-england-semi-final\/\" class=\"auto-internal-link\" title=\"Argentina\u2019s Extra-Time Surge Ends Swiss Resistance to Clinch England Semi-Final\">Switzerland<\/a> tonight in <a href=\"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/07\/10\/englands-quarter-final-disciplinary-tightrope-bellingham-and-rice-risk-semi-final-ban\/\" class=\"auto-internal-link\" title=\"England\u2019s Quarter-Final Disciplinary Tightrope: Bellingham and Rice Risk Semi-Final Ban\">Kansas City<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The defending champions have struggled in the knockout stages, requiring extra-time to see off <a href=\"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/07\/07\/scaloni-overcome-by-emotion-as-argentina-escapes-egypt-in-world-cup-thriller\/\" class=\"auto-internal-link\" title=\"Scaloni Overcome by Emotion as Argentina Escapes Egypt in World Cup Thriller\">Cape Verde<\/a> and then staging a brilliant, late comeback to edge out Egypt.<\/p>\n<p>Switzerland have gone about their business more quietly, securing a 2-0 win over Algeria followed by a penalty shoot-out victory over Colombia. The Colombia game was arguably the worst of the tournament so far due to a lack of creativity and ambition from both sides.<\/p>\n<h2>Where to Watch Argentina v Switzerland<\/h2>\n<p>Argentina versus Switzerland kicks off at 2am, in the early hours of Sunday morning, UK time. You can watch it on ITV1 and stream via ITVX.<\/p>\n<h2>Tournament Context<\/h2>\n<p>Argentina entered the tournament as the defending champions, having captured the global title in Qatar in December 2022. Led by captain Lionel Messi, the South American giants are pursuing another deep run in the tournament. Switzerland, historically known for their defensive organization and disciplined structure, are looking to reach the final four by overcoming the reigning titleholders in this high-stakes fixture.<\/p>\n<div class=\"related-news-box\">\n<h3 class=\"related-news-title\">Read also:<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"related_news_list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/07\/12\/moroccos-world-cup-exit-triggers-100-million-bidding-war-for-ayyoub-bouaddi\/\">Morocco\u2019s World Cup Exit Triggers \u00a3100 Million Bidding War for Ayyoub Bouaddi<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/07\/12\/olmo-claims-real-madrid-noise-is-a-tactic-to-mask-two-years-of-failure\/\">Olmo Claims Real Madrid \u2018Noise\u2019 is a Tactic to Mask Two Years of Failure<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/07\/12\/newcastles-squad-stability-fractures-as-everton-circle-for-jacob-murphy\/\">Newcastle\u2019s Squad Stability Fractures as Everton Circle for Jacob Murphy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lionel Messi will attempt to guide Argentina into the semi-finals of the World Cup when they take on Switzerland tonight in Kansas City. The defending champions have struggled in the knockout stages, requiring extra-time to see off Cape Verde and then staging a brilliant, late comeback to edge out Egypt. Switzerland have gone about their &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4249,407,1981,4250,4247,1156,4252,4253,3611,4248,1982,4251,4226,3841,1658],"class_list":["post-2245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-algeria","tag-argentina","tag-cape-verde","tag-colombia","tag-defending-champions","tag-egypt","tag-itv1","tag-itvx","tag-kansas-city","tag-knockout-stages","tag-lionel-messi","tag-penalty-shoot-out","tag-semi-finals","tag-switzerland","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2245"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2305,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2245\/revisions\/2305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}