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Defending champions Argentina will face England in the semifinals of FIFA World Cup 2026 after beating ten-man Switzerland 3-1 after extra time thanks to a decisive long-range effort by Julian Alvarez.

Alexis Mac Allister headed in a 10th-minute cross by Lionel Messi to hand Argentina the lead at Kansas City Stadium on Saturday.

It was far from the dominant display that the South Americans would have hoped for thereafter, and the Europeans deservedly levelled in the 67th minute when Dan Ndoye slotted home from close range.

The Swiss controversially lost Breel Embolo to a second yellow in the 72nd minute for simulation. VAR had to intervene, however, to request the referee to review whether the booking given to Argentina’s Leandro Paredes was a case of mistaken identity – a new VAR rule for this tournament.

Embolo appeared to dive to win the free kick and Portuguese referee Joao Pinheiro changed his decision, which resulted in an inconsolable Embolo given his marching orders.

Argentina pressed for the winner in normal time and nearly found their reward with virtually the last kick of the period when Lisandro Martinez flung himself at a loose ball in the box, but his scissor-kick didn’t have the power to beat the keeper.

Messi had himself come close when through, one-on-one, but his chip was saved. The referee’s assistant raised his flag to suggest the effort would have been offside anyway, although replays show a goal may well have stood – it would have been Messi’s ninth in six appearances at the tournament.

It was Alvarez who stole the show on this occasion, however, with a fizzing effort from 25 yards which rifled into the top right corner of the goal in the 112th minute.

As the Swiss threw bodies forward in the dying seconds, there were huge holes left at the back and Lautaro Martinez capitalised deep into stoppage time in extra time to slot home a third after a counterattack led by Thiago Almada, whose initial shot deflected kindly into his teammate’s path.

Argentina will now face England in the semifinal on Wednesday in Atlanta. Spain play France, the team Argentina defeated in the final at Qatar 2022, on Tuesday in the other last-four clash.

Only two nations have previously defended a World Cup title, Italy and Brazil.

The taxing nature of the competition, which saw Argentina also pushed to extra time in the round of 32 by Cape Verde, may play a part.

England, though, also needed extra time to beat Norway on Saturday, and 39-year-old Messi seems determined to defy time and can’t be ruled out from finding yet more magical moments.

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Jude Bellingham was England’s hero once more by scoring twice as the Three Lions came from behind to end Norway’s historic run and reach the World Cup semifinals with a 2-1 win after extra-time.

In their first-ever quarterfinal, Andreas Schjelderup fired Norway into a shock lead in the searing Miami heat on Saturday.

But Bellingham, who also netted a double in a memorable 3-2 over Mexico in the last 16, produced a moment of magic to equalise just before half-time.

Norway had a second goal controversially disallowed after a VAR review in the second half for a foul by Erling Haaland as both sets of players were pushed to their physical limits by going to extra-time.

Bellingham came up with another big moment for the winner as he pounced on an error by Orjan Nyland to sweep in his sixth goal of the tournament.

England will face Argentina or Switzerland on Wednesday for the chance to reach a first World Cup final in 60 years.

Haaland’s spectacular run of scoring in his last 14 competitive matches for Norway came to an end against the land of his birth, with Norway’s exhausted talisman replaced at half-time of extra-time.

Having failed to win a World Cup knockout game after conceding first since the final of 1966 before this tournament, England have now done so twice in three matches.

Harry Kane’s heroics prevented an embarrassing early exit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the last 32.

But it is Bellingham who has stood up in the past two matches to keep England in the hunt to end their long wait for major tournament glory despite far from flawless performances.

The 5pm local time (21:00 GMT) kickoff in Florida meant that temperatures remained above 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) throughout, with intense humidity making for draining conditions for the players.

The heat looked as if it would spoil the spectacle in the first half.

Thomas Tuchel’s men were rattled as England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford saved low from Martin Odegaard before Alexander Sorloth wasted a glorious chance when he failed to feed Haaland and instead went for goal himself.

Almost immediately, Bellingham pulled his team out of the mire once more.

Bellingham had been well marshalled until he collected Anthony Gordon’s pass, burst into the box at speed and then slotted home on his weaker left foot.

Momentum was suddenly in England’s favour and they nearly went into the break ahead.

Bellingham was this time the creator for Kane, who dinked the ball coolly over Nyland, but had just drifted offside.

Tuchel introduced Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze at the break for the ineffective Noni Madueke and Declan Rice – the Arsenal midfielder had been suffering with illness earlier in the week.

But those changes left England light in midfield, and they were left hanging on at spells in the second half.

Torbjorn Heggem made the most of some sloppy defending to turn in at the back post, but Haaland was penalised for a push on new Manchester City teammate Elliott Anderson before the corner had been taken, and the goal was disallowed.

Norway were inches away from a winner again when Kristoffer Ajer hit the bar after England failed to deal with another dangerous corner.

Both sides visibly wilted in the energy-sapping conditions late on but were forced to endure an extra 30 minutes.

Nyland had been Norway’s supporting act in the last 16 win over Brazil with a series of saves before Haaland struck twice late on for a landmark victory.

This time the Sevilla goalkeeper was the villain as he spilled substitute Morgan Rogers’ shot from distance and Bellingham pounced and scored.

England were awarded a penalty moments later, but this time VAR intervened in Norway’s favour to deem Djed Spence had initiated contact inside the box.

Yet, Norway’s spirit was already crushed, epitomised by a slouched Haaland watching on from the bench with nothing more to give.

Tuchel said his side was “lucky” to emerge with the win.

“We made life very, very difficult for ourselves today. The result is fantastic. We are in the last four. It’s amazing but not happy with the performance,” he told ITV.

“The commitment is there, but we made life difficult for ourselves in the way we played – sloppy, a lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough. We were lucky today.

“It’s about the quality – we need to play better. We will get better [in the semifinal]. We need to.”

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Linda Noskova has won her first Wimbledon title in astonishing style as the tearful Czech recovered from wasting five match points to beat Karolina Muchova in one of the most dramatic finals in All England Club history.

Noskova, seeded ninth, appeared to be on the brink of a devastating loss when she broke down in tears after squandering those match points in the second set of a Centre Court classic.

But the 21-year-old somehow regained her composure in a final on Saturday with more twists than a Hollywood blockbuster.

Summoning incredible resilience, Noskova clinched her maiden Grand Slam crown with a remarkable 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 victory over her 10th-seeded compatriot.

Quite how she was able to avoid a complete meltdown in the aftermath of her mid-match collapse will go down in the annals of Wimbledon lore.

In two hours and 28 minutes of unrelenting drama, Noskova showed the heart of a champion to establish herself as the youngest woman to win Wimbledon in 15 years.

The third tour-level title of Noskova’s career emulated the success of her compatriot Petra Kvitova, who was the same age when she won the first of her two Wimbledon crowns in 2011.

It was a full circle moment for Noskova, who was inspired to take up tennis by the Wimbledon success of her childhood idol Kvitova.

Fittingly, Kvitova was watching from the royal box as Noskova celebrated her breakthrough victory.

For the third time in the last four years, a Czech woman won Wimbledon following Barbora Krejcikova in 2024 and Marketa Vondrousova in 2023.

Noskova, who banked the winner’s prize of £3.6 million ($4.8 million), has emerged as one of the rising stars of the women’s game during her remarkable run at the All England Club.

Like Kvitova, Noskova has been a quick learner on grass, having only played her first match on the surface in Birmingham in 2023.

She has won more matches on grass than any other player on the WTA Tour in the past two years.

Even so, she had never been past the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam prior to arriving at Wimbledon two weeks ago.

Lifting the Venus Rosewater Dish was hard to imagine for Noskova when she faced match point against Sorana Cirstea in the third round.

Depths Of Despair

Noskova is only the third woman to win Wimbledon after saving a match point earlier in the tournament, joining Venus Williams (2005) and Serena Williams (2009).

Noskova is also the first woman since Maria Sharapova in 2004 to clinch a tour event on grass, in Berlin in June, and then win Wimbledon in the same year.

With her love of baking, penchant for lucky charms and unusual rituals — besides the piercing in her nose, she has matcha tea served by a friend every morning during the tournament — the quirky Noskova is a colourful addition to Wimbledon’s list of champions.

She has a painful Wimbledon memory — in 2024, she entered the tournament shortly after her mother had died of cancer.

Now she has a happier one to ease a little of that pain.

In the first Open era Grand Slam final between two Czech women, the pair are long-time friends, it was Noskova who took the first set with ease.

But that did not begin to tell the story to come.

Noskova wobbled spectacularly, wasting four match points and allowing Muchova to break back when she served for the match in the second set.

Putting her fingers in her ears to block out the crowd’s stunned reaction, Noskova squandered another match point as Muchova held to level at 5-5.

Noskova covered her head in a towel and appeared to wipe away tears before Muchova closed out the set.

She stormed off court before the deciding set, taking a break that proved decisive.

From the depths of despair, she broke early in the set and finally sealed her victory before collapsing to the turf in disbelief.

AFP