Picture : Julian Alvarez scored a wonderful goal to push Argentina in the semi final.
World Cup 2026 Statistics – Day 31 (July 11) – Quarter-final
Argentina vs Switzerland 3-1
*Argentina reached 6 consecutive World Cup victories for the first time in history, surpassing 5 in 1986 and 5 in 2014.
*Argentina have scored 17 goals at the 2026 World Cup: their 2nd highest tally in a single tournament (surpassing 15 goals in 1978 and 2022).
The World Cup edition with the most goals for Argentina is the very first one, 1930 (18).
*Only Brazil in 2002 (18) has scored more goals than Argentina in a single World Cup tournament in XXI century.
*Argentina are the first team since Brazil in 1970 to score at least three goals in each of their first three knockout-stage matches at a World Cup.
*Argentina reached 12 consecutive World Cup matches scoring 2+ goals: an unprecedented streak in the history of the tournament. They surpassed Uruguay – 11 such games in a row between 1930 and 1954.
*Switzerland have fallen behind in a match at the 2026 World Cup for the first time.
*Lionel Messi has played his 15th World Cup knockout-stage match, a new competition’s record, surpassing Miroslav Klose (14).
*With 8 goals and 2 assists, Messi reached 10 direct goal involvements in the 2026 World Cup, matching his feat from 2022 (7+3).
The only other player in history have recorded 10+ direct goal involvements in two different World Cups is Kylian Mbappé – 2022 (10) and 2026 (11).
*Breel Embolo became the third Swiss player to receive a red card in World Cup history, following:
Valon Behrami against Chile on 21 June 2010,
Michael Lang against Sweden on 3 July 2018.
*Argentina have played the most extra-times in the World Cup (13), ahead of Germany (12), Italy and England (11).
*Argentina have emerged victorious (including penalty shootouts) in 11 of the 13 World Cup matches that went to extra time (5 wins in extra time, 6 via penalty shootouts).
*Argentina are the first national team in the history of the World Cup to score two goals in two separate extra-time periods during the same tournament (also vs Cabo Verde).
*Four former World Cup winners have reached the semi-finals of the same tournament for the third time, following 1970 and 1990.
*Argentina will play in consecutive World Cup semi-finals for the first time since 1986 and 1990.
*Messi will play against England for the first time. They are the only World Cup-winning nation he has yet to face.