On July 1, in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, the penultimate match of the 1/8 finals of the football world championship took place. Spectators could watch the meeting between the national teams of Argentina and Switzerland.
Most of the match was a fight in all parts of the field. At the same time, in the first half, the game was a boring sight. The players mostly rolled the ball in the center of the field. The Argentine team had a slight advantage, but this did not lead to dangerous moments. The Swiss tried to counterattack, but this did not look dangerous either. Only one moment from the first half can be recalled - one of the Swiss players fired from a deadly position, but Argentina's goalkeeper Romero rescued the team.
The first half ended in a boring goalless draw.
In the second half of the meeting, the Argentines added. We can already talk about a significant preponderance of the South Americans. Argentina players made more than 20 shots to the opponent's goal. Sometimes the goalkeeper saved the Europeans. The Swiss continued to play on counterattacks, but the fans of the Europeans did not see any super-role moments.
Regular time of the match ended in a draw 0 - 0. It was the most boring 90 minutes in the playoffs.
In extra time, the South Americans pressed again, and the European team held on. The main action of the Argentines can be considered just the pressure on the Swiss gate, but it did not bring results.
The game was reduced to a goalless draw in extra time, but at the 118th minute the Argentines scored a goal. Angel Di Maria, after Messi's pass, sent the ball into the goal. The joy of the Argentines was such as if the team had at least reached the semifinals. This suggests that Messi's team is very hard at winning every match.
The Swiss did not seem to have the strength to recoup. However, in the last minutes of the meeting, Argentina was saved by some centimeters. After a horse feed into the penalty area, Dzhemiley punches his head point-blank at Romero's goal. The ball hit the post. The Europeans lacked quite a bit before a goal. The last attack in the match for the Europeans was a dangerous free kick in the vicinity of the Argentinean goal, but they failed to realize the moment.
Argentina is struggling to advance to the quarterfinals after a minimal win of 1-0 and is awaiting an opponent from the Belgium-USA pair. At the same time, it should be noted that the Argentine team is not showing the best game in the tournament. The captain of the South Americans Messi once again did not show himself in the decisive match, and in some moments he played simply poorly and unworthy of the title of one of the best players in the world.
