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Argentina’s
Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria and Lucas Biglia celebrate after extra
time in the 2014 World Cup round of 16 game between Argentina and
Switzerland at the Corinthians arena in Sao Paulo, on July 1, 2014.
(Reuters Photo/Eddie Keogh)
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Brasilia. Argentina scored in the 118th minute to
beat Switzerland and Belgium clung on to defeat the United States in
another heart-stopping period of extra time to reach the World Cup
quarter-finals amid more extraordinary drama on Tuesday.
Angel Di Maria struck with two minutes of the extra period remaining
to give Argentina a 1-0 win over stubborn Switzerland, who still had
time to hit the post amid unbearable tension in Sao Paulo.
Belgium took a 2-0 extra-time lead through Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu
Lukaku but, after Julian Green pulled one back, they had to survive an
extraordinary end-to-end finale as the US threatened an equalizer before
winning 2-1.
“Football is brutal, brutal, brutal. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite
have enough strength at the end to get through extra time,”
Switzerland’s assistant coach Michel Pont told reporters as the
tournament continued to surpass itself for drama and emotion.
Argentina and Belgium will meet in Brasilia on Saturday after
completing a quarter-final line-up which will feature all eight
group-stage winners with four teams each from Europe and Latin America.
Hosts Brazil face Colombia in Fortaleza on Friday, preceded by France
against Germany in Rio de Janeiro and the Netherlands take on rank
outsiders Costa Rica in Salvador on Saturday.
The Dutch, runners-up four years ago, will almost certainly be
without hard-tackling midfielder Nigel de Jong for the rest of the
tournament after he was ruled out for two to four weeks with a groin
injury.
Off the field, Cameroon’s football federation (FECAFOOT) said it
would investigate claims that seven players were involved in
match-fixing at the World Cup, centered on the 4-0 defeat by Croatia
when Alex Song was sent off in the first half.
“Recent allegations of fraud around Cameroon’s three 2014 World Cup
games, especially Cameroon v Croatia, as well the existence of “seven
bad apples (in our national team)” do not reflect the values and
principles promoted by our administration,” FECAFOOT said in a
statement.
The allegations against Cameroon came from convicted fraudster Wilson
Raj Perumal, who it emerged during a discussion with German magazine
Der Spiegel had accurately forecast the result and the fact that a
player would be sent off.
Penalties looming
Twice champions Argentina dominated the last-16 game against
Switzerland but their attacks lacked variety and too often ended with
hopeful crosses into the penalty area.
Switzerland were expertly marshaled by veteran coach Ottmar Hitzfeld
who had already announced that he would retire after the tournament.
With penalties looming, Angel Di Maria stroked the ball home from the
edge of penalty area to put the finishing touch to a trademark Lionel
Messi run, sparking wild celebrations among the South American team and
their fans in Sao Paulo.
The celebrations nearly proved premature when Swiss substitute Blerim
Dzemaili headed against the post from point-blank range and the ball
rebounded on to his knee and went centimeters past the post.
“It was a game that we deserved to win in 90 minutes,” Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella told reporters.
“It was even during a first half in which they had two clear chances
to score, but in the second half we were clearly superior, we had five
or six shots at goal and in extra time we also had more chances.”
Belgium dominated normal time and were frustrated by an inspired Tim
Howard in the US goal but struck early in extra-time when De Bruyne
collected the ball before turning and firing home an angled shot from
seven meters.
Substitute striker Lukaku powered home a second on 105 minutes after a
clever De Bruyne pass before Green’s volley at the start of the second
period set up a pulsating finale in which Clint Dempsey almost sneaked
an equalizer.
The US could have sealed it at the end of normal time but substitute
Chris Wondolowski skewed his effort horribly wide from five meters.
“We had about 15 chances, we were controlling the game I think it is
largely deserved even though at the end we conceded one,” Belgium coach
Marc Wilmots told reporters.
Howard felt heart-broken to lose.
“We left it all out there but we lost to a really good team. It hurts but hats off to Belgium they were fantastic,” he said.
Reuters
By Brian Homewood on 11:14 am Jul 02, 2014
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