Argentina 1 : 0 Switzerland - Late Di Maria winner sinks Swiss
Posted Wednesday, July 02, 2014 by PA
Argentina squeezed into the quarter-finals of the World Cup thanks to a last-gasp extra-time winner from Angel Di Maria.
The South American side dominated possession in the first half, but they would have been behind at the break had Josip Drmic not wasted a glorious chance to put Switzerland ahead.
The Swiss withstood a barrage from Argentina for the rest of the evening, but their excellent goalkeeper Diego Benaglio was finally beaten with two minutes of extra time left and Alejandro Sabella's men walked away with a 1-0 win.
Benaglio had earlier kept Switzerland in the match with superb saves from Di Maria, Rodrigo Palacio and Pablo Zabaleta.
Lionel Messi had a quiet game for the first time at the World Cup, only testing Benaglio on two occasions, but he played a key role at the end in setting up Di Maria for the goal.
Seconds after Di Maria's strike, Blerim Dzemaili had a great chance to take the game to penalties, but he hit a post and then missed a simple tap-in for the follow-up, meaning Argentina advanced to a quarter-final meeting with either Belgium or the United States.
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