Alvarez sends Argentina past Switzerland after VAR controversy to set up England semi-final

World Cup quarter-final (AET): Argentina 3 (Alexis Mac Allister 10, Julian Alvarez 112, Lautaro Martinez 120+1) Switzerland 1 (Dan Ndoye 67)

Something wicked this way comes. After a draining night out here in Missouri proper, miles beyond the last street lights of Kansas City, Argentina, still the world champions prevailed. As the fates decreed, they will renew their storied World Cup history with England, with all its dark majesty and poison. They will meet on Wednesday in Atlanta. The conspiracists will say it was the clash that the tournament – and Fifa – desired.

It took all of Argentina’s qualities here – cunning, moments of last-gasp defensive excellence, irritating gamesmanship, and that eternal capacity to produce beauty out of nothing – to overcome a hugely obdurate and unflinching Swiss challenge. The goal that broke the night open was a sensational right-footed strike by Julian Alvarez in the 112th minute. And yet again, it took a controversial intervention from VAR, which flipped a 70th minute yellow card for Argentina’s excellent midfielder Leandro Paredes for a reckless tackle on Breel Embolo into a yellow card for the powerful Swiss striker after replays revealed an ill-advised highly theatrical dive. Fatally, Embolo had picked up a first-half yellow from referee João Pinheiro for clattering Paredes – the pair had been sparking all night.

The red card left the stricken Swiss player in tears as he left and the Swiss bench enraged. After the officiating calls Argentina had enjoyed against Egypt, and the sour aftertaste of their exit, their journey through America seems directed by the hand of ... well, choose your deity.

To be blunt, Argentina needed the extra man in order to unlock a hugely athletic and bruising Swiss wall, something Argentina’s coach Lionel Scaloni acknowledged afterwards.

“They made us struggle. Physically, they are very strong. It was very difficult for us to win the duels to put more than five or six passes together and that is the reality. But we always find a solution. We suffered quite a lot. But when you reach a semi-final you need to go through it. In Qatar we suffered also. But now we are more experienced and today we kept our composure. The team knew how to remain calm.”

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Although the vast South American support in Arrowhead chanted their incantations with the game deadlocked at 1-1, they were waiting for Lionel Messi to rescue the evening. He looked his age at times here even if he still sucked up a huge volume of the Swiss concentration as he repeatedly tried to unpick them by skating across the box and firing through any sliver of space available. That the Swiss, down to 10 players, had dropped so deep allowed Alvarez the space and time to drift in from the right and fire an outrageous goal with energy ebbing across the pitch. Argentina’s third goal, a routine follow-up for Lautaro Martinez, was a cruel conclusion to the Swiss toughness here.

They are nothing pretty to watch but gave the aristocrats a tough, tough night which England must have enjoyed. Murat Yakin switched Djibril Sow for Ardon Jashari, the only change in their game-for-the-ages win against Colombia, and sent out the 11 he believed could end what has become a gushing river of Argentinian emotion. If the South Americans have become a study in national soul-bearing, then the Swiss advanced to this point of the tournament as an impenetrable mystery. The more they won, the less readable and knowable they became. In a tournament when other countries are scoring for fun, the Swiss had created two goals from open play since the knockout stages began. And they had conceded nothing. Which made them a dangerous proposition for Scaloni, who, as much as the fans, seems to accept that the gods and untapped passions will have their say as Argentina navigate their richly dramatic path.

By the time the teams took the field, at 7.51pm, a warm summer breeze drifted across this steep Missouri bowl of a stadium and Argentina were, of course, aware, that the reward for winning this night was a reunion with their football animus.

It took them just 10 minutes to produce another goal at the Arrowhead when Alexis Mac Allister managed a perfect contact on Messi’s inswinging corner, leaving Gregor Kobel, terrific over the long night, a spectator. The drum beats became more urgent but Argentina failed to land another chance on target for the rest of the half. Instead, it was the Swiss who, through long periods of desultory play, sounded a few party-spoiling warning shots, Lisandro Martinez did just enough to shoulder Embolo, who was readying to pull the trigger after a powerful run in the 31st minute and they wasted a free three minutes later. By then, the passes complete count read 135-202 in favour of the losing team.

Messi spent many minutes in that half straddling borderlands between Manuel Akanji and Nico Elvedi in his habitual walking pace. At times, from our perch up by the flash bulbs which light this place in the depths of the gridiron winter, he cut a lonesome figure, almost dissociated from the game around him. And then, seconds later, the ball would find its way to his feet, a crescendo of noise would rise through the stadium in expectation. There were gorgeous flashes of play, several heavy tackles and much writhing around. There is something of the pit of quicksand about Switzerland; they sucked up so much of Argentina’s inventiveness and then looked to hurt their opponents through the powerful athleticism of Denis Zakaria, Nico Elvedi and Embolo.

Although still ahead due to Mac Allister’s goal on the hour mark, Argentina looked drained and suddenly old on the pitch. In the stands, their fans kept chanting to will the bad spirits away and seemed unwilling to recognise that their team was becoming dragged into a brawl here. Then Dan Ndoye linked up with Ricardo Rodriguez on a simple give and go and slid a neat finish.

Swiss joy was short-lived.

Everything changed with that yellow-card switch. Afterwards, the Swiss wore the same bitter smiles as the Egyptians before them while the Argentinian team stood before the adoring masses and waved their shirts.

“We dominated,” said Murat Yakin, Switzerland’s coach afterwards.

“We decided the match. However, the red card ... we were punished because of a rule that in my opinion is completely unacceptable. I don’t understand. It is very painful that we are eliminated that way. I don’t think we deserved that today and in my opinion my boys are the real heroes. I know that they will protect the referee, but this rule destroyed our game today and it is incredibly painful and to be eliminated in that way hurts a lot.”

So, Argentina opened their World Cup with a night of uncomplicated Messianic joy and magic in Arrowhead. It seems like a long time ago. They leave Kansas City after a brutal war of attrition. For the thousands of Argentinian fans still filing out of Arrowhead long after midnight, Scaloni offered this message even as their thoughts turned to England, who are on a quest of their own.

“The message is that this is a football game. And we will be playing against a very tough opponent and they have an excellent coach and that’s all.”

That kind of magical realism is fine and well four days out. But once they are on the same field, that can never be all.

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