Argentina keep winning at this World Cup, but boy, are they making it look complicated. Five victories on the bounce and a place in the quarter-finals against Switzerland in Kansas City, yet you get the sense that Lionel Scaloni's defending champions are operating somewhere between brilliant and absolutely terrifying, depending on which half you happen to be watching. The group stage was a stroll in the park: Algeria were dispatched 3-0, Austria beaten 2-0, and Jordan seen off 3-1. Lionel Messi scored six times in those three games and broke the all-time World Cup scoring record in the process, because apparently shattering records is just his hobby now. He has 21 and counting, in case you were wondering when this man might slow down. Spoiler: he will not.
But then the knockout rounds arrived, and Argentina suddenly turned into the team that enjoys making life unnecessarily difficult for itself. In the Round of 32, they needed an own goal in extra time to finally see off debutants Cabo Verde, which is the football equivalent of needing five attempts to parallel park. Then against Egypt in the last sixteen, they somehow found themselves in another 3-2 epic, requiring three late goals to rescue a situation that should never have been that precarious. Messi grabbed the crucial equalizer, and the collective will of the squad dragged them over the line, but this is not the serene dominance of a team cruising toward back-to-back titles. It is more like watching a Formula One driver win the race while occasionally driving on two wheels.
Switzerland, meanwhile, have been quietly having the tournament of their lives. Murat Yakin's men have reached their first quarter-final since 1954, which for context was a time when television was still considered a novelty. They beat Algeria 2-0 in the Round of 32 and then outlasted Colombia on penalties in the last sixteen, doing so without their breakout star Johan Manzambi, who had been sensational in the group stage with three goals and real attacking thrust. This Swiss side is a blend of seasoned campaigners and young blood, with Granit Xhaka leading by example and insisting that even as a small nation, anything is possible at the elite level. They have history with Argentina too: the Albiceleste won both previous World Cup meetings, including that agonizing 2014 Round of 16 clash where Angel Di Maria scored in the 118th minute. Kansas City awaits, and someone is heading to an Atlanta semi-final.
