England and Argentina win in extra time. The semi-final is on 15 July

There was no shortage of chances in the second half. Norway came close to regaining the lead, even hitting the crossbar with a header, whilst Pickford proved decisive in the most critical moments. As the minutes ticked by, fatigue began to set in and the match went into extra time.

The decisive goal came in the 93rd minute. Morgan Rogers shot from outside the box; Nyland failed to hold onto the ball; and Bellingham, lurking like a true striker, slotted it home to complete his brace and seal the 2–1 victory.

England did not shine in terms of their play, but they showed maturity and the ability to dig deep. Thomas Tuchel’s side managed to stay in the game during the most difficult moments and once again relied on the class of their star player, Jude Bellingham. Two goals, leadership, a constant presence in the key areas of the pitch and the ability to single-handedly decide a quarter-final.

Among the Norwegians, special mention must be made of the performances of Ødegaard, who was the driving force behind the team’s attacking play, and Schjelderup, who scored a splendid goal. The Scandinavian side leave the tournament with their heads held high after their best World Cup ever.

At Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Argentina had to work much harder than expected to overcome a well-organised and combative Swiss side. Scaloni’s team started strongly and broke the deadlock in the 10th minute: a perfect corner from Lionel Messi was met by Alexis Mac Allister’s winning header.

As the minutes ticked by, however, Switzerland grew into the game. Embolo tested Emiliano Martínez with a dangerous shot, and after the break, the Swiss stepped up the pressure even further. The deserved equaliser came in the 67th minute through Dan Ndoye, who finished off a move set up by Ricardo Rodríguez.

The turning point of the match came in the 72nd minute, when Breel Embolo was sent off for a second booking, leaving Switzerland down to ten men.

The Swiss striker had already been booked in the 44th minute for a foul on Lisandro Martínez. With the score at 1–1 to Switzerland, Embolo entered the Argentine penalty area and sought contact with an opposing defender, ending up on the ground. Initially, the referee had shown Leandro Paredes a yellow card for the alleged foul and awarded a penalty.

However, the VAR intervened to review the incident. The footage showed that there had been no significant contact from Paredes and that Embolo had dived. Following the video review, the referee rescinded the booking shown to the Argentine midfielder and instead booked Embolo for simulation.

Despite being a man down, Murat Yakin’s side held firm and took the match into extra time. Just as it looked as though the game was heading for a penalty shoot-out, the champion struck. In the 112th minute, Julián Álvarez pulled a masterpiece out of the hat: a shot from around 25 metres that flew into the top corner. An extraordinary goal that broke the deadlock.

Deep into stoppage time in the second half of extra time, Lautaro Martínez then sealed the victory with a counter-attack, making the final score 3–1.

Argentina demonstrated their immense attacking quality but also struggled somewhat to control the game. Messi lit up the match with his assist for Mac Allister and a number of decisive moments, whilst Emiliano Martínez made crucial saves at the most critical moments.

Switzerland exit the tournament having put in another impressive performance, but with the regret of not having been able to field Johan Manzambi – who was emerging as the team’s greatest talent – in the decisive matches, as he was injured in the final moments of the training session ahead of the round of 16 tie against Colombia. Former Bologna player Ndoye was the most dangerous up front, whilst Kobel kept his side in the game until extra time. The Swiss showed remarkable resilience despite playing a man down for almost fifty minutes.