KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On one side of the field will be Argentina, the reigning World Cup champion, boasting a roster that features the likes of Julián Alvarez, Lautaro Martinez and, of course, Lionel Messi, perhaps the greatest player of his generation.
On the other side, Switzerland.
Yes, the final quarterfinal match Saturday night at Arrowhead Stadium could hardly seem a bigger mismatch. Argentina has the glitz and the glamour, to say nothing of the stars and the trophies, while the Swiss have never even reached the World Cup semifinals; in fact, they haven’t been to the quarterfinals since 1954, when they lost to Austria in a tournament they hosted.
But anything can happen on the field as Argentina and the rest of the world learned when the three-time champions struggled to beat tiny Cape Verde in the round of 32 last week, and when La Albiceleste had to rally from a 2-0 deficit in the final 11 minutes to beat Egypt on Tuesday. And that has given hope to a Switzerland team that beat Colombia on penalty kicks to earn a date with the Argentines in the last quarterfinal to be played this week.
“We know Argentina has many fine qualities. Few talk about the Swiss qualities,” Switzerland defensive midfielder and team captain Granit Xhaka said Friday. “Tomorrow we will talk on the pitch, and we will show what we can do, and everything else doesn’t matter.”