By Matt McMullen
Five incredible weeks will culminate in Kansas City’s sixth and final FIFA World Cup™ match on Saturday as Argentina and Switzerland clash for a place in the Semifinals, and for both teams, history is on the line.
The stakes for Argentina, the 2022 FIFA World Cup™ champion, are obvious. The global tournament hasn’t featured a repeat winner since Brazil did so in 1962, and before that, Italy in 1938. In other words, it’s really hard – and historically speaking, nearly impossible – for a reigning champion to successfully defend its title, but for Argentina, that reality is just three wins away.
On the other side of the pitch, Switzerland has an opportunity to make the deepest tournament run in the nation’s proud history. This already marks Switzerland’s first trip to the Quarterfinals since 1954, and with a win on Saturday, the Swiss would avenge a loss to Argentina in the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ and punch their ticket to the Semifinals for the very first time.
And the stage? For a sixth, and final time, Kansas City will welcome the attention of the world on Saturday night. The Heartland has already featured some of the tournament’s most memorable moments, from Lionel Messi’s hat trick against Algeria to keeper Eloy Room’s 15 saves that drew Curaçao even with Ecuador.
Saturday’s match promises to provide a fitting finale to a summer Kansas City will never forget, but in terms of the matchup, this particular clash – up until the very end – seemed like a longshot to even take place.
Argentina, for instance, needed a rally of historic proportions to defeat Egypt in the Round of 16. The defending champions were staring down a two-goal deficit in the 78th minute before rattling off three goals in just 13 minutes to secure the come-from-behind victory.
It was a relentless effort synonymous with the heart of a champion, and for Manager Lionel Scaloni, the performance demonstrated not only the character of his team, but also what he wants this particular group’s legacy to be for years to come.
“I would like this national team to be remembered as a team that never gave up…We don’t just play for a win, it’s also about the 10-year-old shouting, ‘Let’s Go Argentina!’ That’s the legacy that we want,” Scaloni said. “When you talk about a national team – about Argentina – it’s about passion. It’s about being seven or eight years old and playing in the street, and you never give up on a ball. That’s the legacy we want to leave with this national team.”
At the center of that legacy is Messi, who tallied his first-ever first hat trick on the FIFA World Cup stage on a warm night in Kansas City last month. Plenty has been discussed about Messi’s pursuit of a second-straight title in what is likely his last FIFA World Cup appearance, but as much as the man many consider to be the greatest to ever play the game feels inevitable, the Swiss are eager to make this moment theirs, instead.
“I am not here to talk, I want to take the next steps,” said Swiss captain Granit Xhaka. “We’re very close to the end. I’m yearning for it, and I’m hungry. Now, we just have to show it on the pitch.”
Indeed, Xhaka and his teammates are just three victories from immortality following a thrilling, shootout win over Colombia. It was hardly the result most expected, as many penciled in a rematch of Argentina’s win over Colombia in the 2024 Copa América final.
The Swiss had other ideas, however, and that resilience will have an opportunity to reveal itself yet again on Saturday.
“We’ve prepared, now we just have to perform tomorrow and bring our A-game,” Xhaka said. “What really matters is the mentality. We know that Argentina has many qualities – [although] few people talk about the Swiss qualities. Tomorrow, we’ll talk on the pitch and show you what we can do.”
Of course, if Xhaka and the Swiss are to be successful, they’ll need to overcome what has turned into a hometown advantage for Argentina.
Kansas City has served as Argentina’s Team Base Camp throughout the tournament, after all, and la Albiceleste – as the national team is called – played a match within the confines of Saturday’s venue less than a month ago.
“We haven’t been traveling that much. When you walk out on the pitch, you say that doesn’t matter, but it does. Rest is essential,” Scaloni said. Fortunately, we haven’t had to travel that much, and if we had been second [in the group], we would have traveled all over the place.”
To Scaloni’s point, Argentina’s taking care of business during the Group Stage meant a limited itinerary that included trips to Dallas and Atlanta, plus one longer flight to Miami. The Swiss, on the other hand, recently completed three consecutive games in Vancouver – nearly 2,000 miles away from Kansas City Stadium.
It all equates to a road game of sorts for the Swiss, but it turns out that Manager Murat Yakin knows his American football. Fittingly, Yakin was visited on Thursday by Kansas City Chiefs legendary running back Christian Okoye, who gifted the team a commemorative jersey.
Yakin, a self-described NFL fan, was moved by the gesture, and in the spirit of recent Chiefs football, he’s anything but discouraged by the adversity ahead.
“Tomorrow, we get to play in the stadium where the Chiefs were able to win a lot the last couple of years,” Yakin said. “That’s a real highlight, but we will try to have a historic win as well tomorrow and write our own history.”
There’s plenty on the line for both teams on Saturday, but regardless of the result, Kansas City – as it has for the length of the tournament – will continue to make history of its own.