Argentina 0:0 (1:0 aet) Switzerland

Argentina - Switzerland 0:0 (0:0) , 1:0 aet, 01/07/14, Arena Corinthians, Sao Paolo

Sergio Aguero is out with injury so Lavezzi was brought in with rest of the side as expected. Schar was preferred to Senderos at the back in the absence of von Bergen. Ottmar Hitzfeld decided to stick with same attacking set up as against Honduras, which meant Xhaka played on right and Shaqiri in the number 10 role.

Starting XIs

Unconvincing Argentina

The game started really slowly, but the pattern of the game was clear from the start. Argentina had plenty of possession and tried to get Messi on the ball as much as possible while Switzerland sat deeper and looked to counter and create chances from set-pieces.

With Lavezzi in the side, Messi was much more central than in the previous games. Lavezzi played down the right, while Di Maria started on the left, rather than alongside Gago in the middle. They switched flanks midway through the first half, which demonstrated that Argentina were more of a 4-2-3-1 in this game. Messi couldn´t find much space and was dropping deeper to get on the ball, but he was closed down immediately by at least two players, usually both central midfielders as there wasn´t anyone else in that area. 

Messi passes received

Argentina seemed really dependable on Messi and there wasn´t any other source of creativity. Their only real treat came from crosses and set-pieces and Garay was whisker away from meeting great by Di Maria from the corner.

Switzerland were more dangerous side in the first half, despite having only 40% of the possession. First  of their two big chances came after short corner and great piece of skills by Shaqiri, who beat Rojo and played a good ball to Xhaka in the box, but his shot went right at the goalkeeper. Other big chance came on the counter and Shaqiri played Drmic through, but he failed to chip Romero who went out of his goal, then decided to come back in the last moment and he was lucky that a chip shot went right into his hands.

Second half and extra time

Argentina became even more dominant in the second half, recording 66% of possession and really held Switzerland in their own half for long periods. There wasn´t much invention though and game plan was still the same – give ball to Messi or go down the flanks. They increased the pressure as the game went on, but the end product was often poor. Best example was Di Maria´s rabona cross after 60 minutes, when he managed to beat Rodriguez for the first time on the right side and wasted a good chance to find one of the 5 teammates waiting for a cross inside the box.

Switzerland couldn´t get on the ball properly and it was all about Argentina trying to find a goal. Messi had couple of decent efforts, but most promising chances came after crosses from Rojo, Di Maria or Zabaleta, however the score line remained 0:0 after 90 minutes. 

Rojo crosses

Di Maria crosses

Game continued in the same patter in the extra time and both managers eventually used all of their substitutions, but all of them were rather strait swops and none of them seemed to change anything regarding tactics until Biglia replaced Gago for the second period of extra time. Argentina played as a 4-2-4 now with Messi right next to Higuain, Di Maria on the left and Palacio, who came on for Lavezzi earlier on the right. It all looked like there will be yet another penalty shoot-out when Palacio won the ball of Lichtsteiner on the half way line, he found Messi who avoided challenge from Schar before passing the ball to Di Maria who finished brilliantly to the far post. With 3 minutes added in the extra time there was still hope for Switzerland and Dzemaili had a golden chance to equalise from Shaqiri´s cross  following the corner, but the ball hit the post and bounced just wide of him on the rebound. The last kick of the ball was a Shaqiri´s free kick from a great area, but he shot strait into the wall. 

Conclusion

Arguably the least enjoyable game of the knock-out stage so far as Argentina failed to create clear cut chances against very solid Swiss side, who sat deep and denied space in the middle of the pitch very well. Inler and Behrami have been fantastic against Messi, closing him down quickly and forcing him to drop deep to received the ball. However, Switzerland didn´t create a real chance in the second half and extra time apart of Dzemaili´s header in the 121^st minute. Argentina deserve credit for taking the risk in the second period of extra time and playing 4 attackers high up, but the star players apart of Messi haven´t been impressive at all. Di Maria had rather disappointing game, but his persistence paid off as one of his 12 shots found the net. His energy has been absolutely fantastic, but he was wasteful when in dangerous positions and really redeemed himself by that late goal. The game proved again how important Messi is for this team and that there isn´t much creativity from other players despite real star names in the team. They will really have to step up if Argentina is to go further in this tournament!

Highlights: Argentina - Switzerland 1:0 aet