Argentina vs. Switzerland: La Seleccion remain "in the mix" for World Cup glory despite recent troubles

Ahead of Argentina's 2026 World Cup quarter-final with Switzerland, Sports Mole's Senior Reporter Oliver Thomas discusses the holders of the famous trophy.

Oliver Thomas, Senior Reporter: "Found a way to win"

It's hard to say whether I'm more or less convinced by them at the moment. 

Despite all that went on against Egypt and the game before that against Cape Verde, I don't think my opinion has changed that much. 

I still think they are probably in the mix to go all the way. Any team that comes from two goals down with just 11 minutes of normal time remaining to win 3-2 deserves huge credit. 

To show that fight until the very end, especially when you're feeling fatigued and the whole of Argentina is watching, the pressure must have been enormous. 

But they dug deep and found a way to win, and it wasn't all down to Messi. It was a team victory. 

Messi contributed, as he almost does every game, but it was a team performance that got them over the line and completed that remarkable turnaround. 

Enzo Fernandez scored a great headed winner, thanks to that perfect cross from Lisandro Martinez right at the end. That winning goal was interestingly the 3,000th goal in World Cup history. On the negatives, they didn't really offer too much in the first half. 

Egypt's goalkeeper was in inspired form, but Argentina just lacked that cutting edge to begin with. It was only when they were trailing 2-0 that they really came to life. 

Defensively, Argentina have looked vulnerable. Lisandro Martinez was easily beaten in the air for Egypt's opening goal, and the back four were all over the place for the second goal. 

No one was tracking Zico, who was just free to run into the box and tap home Egypt's second. Against Cape Verde, they conceded twice as well, one of them being a worldy of a strike in extra time. 

In these knockout games, they've been nowhere near as solid at the back as in previous matches. That will be a concern for Scaloni. 

On top of that, Messi has now missed his second penalty of this World Cup: the first player to ever miss two penalties in a single World Cup excluding shoot-outs. 

Will Scaloni be bold enough to take Messi off penalty duties when he's chasing a golden boot? I highly doubt it, but maybe that's something in the back of his mind. 

Argentina don't enter this quarter-final in perfect form, but in knockout football it's all about winning by any means necessary. They've achieved that so far. 

How long can this go on for remains to be seen, but they'll be favourites to beat Switzerland and they have my vote to progress to the semi-finals.