Argentina survives Switzerland to set up a box-office showdown with England in the World Cup semifinal

By Kyle Feldscher and CNN Staff

Argentina once again has pulled a rabbit out of their hats to survive another dramatic challenge, and they are through to the World Cup semifinal.

Their 3-1 win over Switzerland sets up one of the biggest rivalries in world soccer with nothing less than a trip to a World Cup final on the line: England-Argentina on Wednesday in Atlanta.

Julián Alvarez’s goal was a worthy winner, though Argentina’s victory will be controversial again thanks to the sending off of Breel Embolo for a second yellow card for simulation not long after the Swiss’ second-half equalizer. Lautaro Martínez added one more late to give the scoreline a lot more padding than was really deserved.

Argentina simply will not let go of the World Cup trophy that easily. Three straight massive survivals for La Albiceleste in this knockout phase of the tournament have earned them a place in the final four.

A reminder that FIFA’s tennis-style seeding rule meant that the top four ranked teams — Spain, Argentina, France and England — could not meet until the semifinals, provided all four won their groups.

Spain and Argentina, essentially seeds one and two, ended up in opposite halves of the draw. France and England, three and four respectively, were paired in the same way. And groups were indeed won.

The official party line from FIFA was all about “ensuring competitive balance,” but you have to think this couldn’t have gone any better for world football’s governing body, nor the TV networks, who get the Final Four of their dreams, and at the very audience friendly time slot of 9 p.m. CET (3 p.m. ET) this Tuesday and Wednesday.

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