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Some early mail:

An astute observation from Andrew Goudie, who points out that “So far, one former champion has gone out at each stage: Italy (Qualifiers), Uruguay (group stage), Germany (round of 32), Brazil (round of 16). Argentina are going out today.”

An astute eye from Marcio Lana-Lopez, who fixes my silly misspelling of Uruguay’s Alcides Ghiggia, who scored in all four of his games at the 1950 World Cup. “He’s a true football hero in Uruguay, scored the final goal that exploded Brazilians’ hearts and minds in 1950’s World Cup, the famous Maracanazo.”

Argentina are back in Kansas City, the smallest of the North American host cities and where they played their tournament opener against Algeria. And their fans have shown up in full throng:

Here’s how our staff predicted the rest of the World Cup will play out. I predicted Argentina will reach the semi-finals but also picked Switzerland as my dark horse, so you can’t blame me either way. I liked Jonathan Wilson on Switzerland:

double quotation markThey somehow always manage to get further in tournaments than seems plausible; there’s something about them that seems to discourage proper analysis. And they can defend.

Here’s how the Golden Boot race looks. Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé each have eight goals, but as of now Mbappé has the slight edge because of the assists tiebreaker. The Frenchman has three to Messi’s one.

Argentina are the joint-top scorers with 14 goals. What sets them apart, however, is their attacking variety with no other team having scored as many times outside the remit of what Opta deem regular play.

More from Andrew Beasley:

The whiplash of the Cape Verde and Egypt games was nothing new for Argentina fans. In their Cup-winning run in 2022, Argentina lost a lead no fewer than four times, including twice in the final against France. Great storytelling? Yes. Emotional mayhem? Certainly. A dangerous way to live? Also yes.

Without Johan Manzambi, Switzerland aren’t the scoring threat they had been earlier in this tournament. But if the Swiss can find a way through, Argentina may have a difficult time clawing back.

Gregor Kobel has not had the headlines or the standout single-game showings of some of the other goalkeepers at this tournament, but he’s quietly been one of the best of them. He has back-to-back clean sheets in the knockout round and has made 16 total saves. This is still his first major run with Switzerland (he took over from Yann Sommer after the 2024 Euros) but he does have experience leading the way through a knockout tournament: his play was a key reason why Dortmund reached the Champions League final in 2024.

The winner of this Argentina v Switzerland match will face England in the semi-finals:

Updated at 00.53 BST

Lionel Scaloni has no changes from the Argentina XI that staged a remarkable fightback against Egypt in the last 16. To no one’s surprise, Lionel Messi starts in what will be his 205th appearance for the national side.

Murat Yakin has one change to the Swiss XI he started against Colombia. Midfielder Ardon Jashari is out and Djibril Sow is in.

Team news

Argentina (poss 4-1-3-2): E Martinez; Tagliafico, L Martinez, Romero, Molina; Paredes; Fernandez, Mac Allister, De Paul; Alvarez, Messi

Switzerland (poss 4-2-3-1): Kobel; Zakaria, Elvedi, Akanji, Rodriguez; Freuler, Xhaka; Ndoye, Sow, Rieder; Embolo

Referee: João Pinheiro (Portugal)

Updated at 00.44 BST

A piece from Jonathan Wilson earlier in the tournament that I very much enjoyed: an interview with Luciana Alvarengue, the former maths teacher of Enzo Fernández and Julián Alvarez in Buenos Aires.

Updated at 01.10 BST

Lionel Messi, in case you didn’t know, is having quite the World Cup. He became the leading scorer in the history of the men’s tournament, recorded his 200th cap for Argentina, turned 39, fueled two remarkable finishes, and has a goal streak that stretches across six knockout matches, dating back to the 2022 final.

Here’s some trivia for your watch party. Only two players in World Cup history have scored in every match of a tournament-winning campaign. They were Alcides Ghiggia of Uruguay in 1950 and Jairzinho of Brazil in 1970. The main difference is that they each had fewer games to play: Ghiggia played four and Jairzinho played six.

Updated at 01.18 BST

Argentina and Switzerland have met seven times. The Swiss have never won.

One of the more notable encounters: the 2014 World Cup last 16, where Argentina won in extra time en route to their appearance in the final. Lionel Messi, Granit Xhaka and Ricardo Rodriguez all played that day in Brazil and will be on the field again today.

What’s Xhaka’s approach to stopping Messi?

double quotation markI don’t know if we can stop him over 90 minutes. It’s going to be very difficult. We have to be smart. We’ll have to be compact, close the gaps and not give him too many spaces. We will try, obviously, to play in possession when we have the ball, and he won’t be able to act as much. We’ll just try to play our game and not allow him to play the ball.

Pablo Iglesias Maurer

Argentina will need Lionel Messi and much more against Switzerland. They will need to stay in high gear for longer stretches. They cannot rely on vibes alone as they have sometimes seemed to this summer. Yet to many, the chaotic energy of this Argentina side is exactly why they are beloved. Perhaps Lionel Scaloni is among them.

“Football is this, not just tactics and strategies,” he said, his voice tinged with emotion after the Egypt match. “Those things are important, no doubt, but if we hadn’t had the heart we had, we would’ve been out.”

Jude Bellingham has put England ahead in the other quarter-final.

Meanwhile, we should have team news shortly for Argentina v Switzerland. A bit more than 90 minutes until kick-off in Kansas City.

In Miami, where it’s quite hot and quite tense, Norway and England are going to extra time in the other quarter-final. Scott Murray has all the updates:

Preamble

Hello and welcome to the fourth and final quarter-final of this World Cup!

Argentina v Switzerland. The holders v the underdogs. The side that have three World Cups v the side that have never reached the last four. Pure process v pure emotional chaos. A spot in Wednesday’s semi-final against either Norway or England in Atlanta is on the line. If Argentina win, their quest to become the first team to claim back-to-back World Cup titles remains alive. If Switzerland win, they will continue the best major tournament run in their history and ensure an all-European last four.

How did we get here? After cruising through the group stage, Argentina survived two major scares in the knockout round: first against Cape Verde in extra time in the last 32, then against Egypt in the last 16. They needed stoppage-time heroics and the benefit of an own goal in the former to avoid what might have been the greatest upset in the history of professional sport. In the latter, they trailed 2-0 until the 79th minute. It was Lionel Messi, per usual, who spearheaded a 10-minute swing and pushed his team into the quarter-finals.

Switzerland are in the final eight of the World Cup for the first time since 1954. The Group B winners beat Algeria in the last 32 and then survived a tense chess match of a last-16 game against Colombia before escaping on penalties. Their veteran core has been very good at knockout football in recent years, but much of their success at this tournament has come from the attacking exploits of 20-year-old Johan Manzambi, who has three goals and two assists in two appearances. In a blow to the Nati, he missed the last 16 and is out again with a knee injury for this game.

Can Switzerland pull a shock? Will Messi’s magic strike again? I’ll be back soon with team news. In the meantime, send any thoughts to ella.brockway@theguardian.com, and tune in to the end of Norway v England, which seems bound for extra time.

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