WORLD CUP BETTING PREVIEW - ARGENTINA VS SWITZERLAND

World Cup

2026-07-11 - Argentina vs Switzerland

A Sports Betting Preview by Auls

Argentina v Switzerland
Football: World Cup Quarter Final
Saturday 11th July 2026 - Kick Off 8pm (CST)
British Time 2am

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Argentina

Anger has erupted in Egypt after some of the controversial refereeing decisions that helped Argentina recover from a 0-2 deficit to win the Last 16 tie 3-2 in Atlanta on Tuesday. The Football Association have lodged a formal complaint to have the officials from that fixture thrown out of the World Cup, which underlines the sense of injustice, but the World Champions have to ignore everything other than the fact they are playing in another Quarter Final.

After cruising through the Group Stage, Argentina have made really hard work of the opening two Knock Out Rounds which have both ended in 3-2 wins over Cape Verde and Egypt. Lionel Scaloni has overseen big successes at international level during his time managing Argentina, but he will also be well aware that his team have to show significant improvement if they are going to defend the title won in Qatar.

Argentina deserved to beat Cape Verde, even if they made much harder work of that fixture than they should have done, but they did have the rub of the green against Egypt. On the raw numbers, Argentina were the team with the superior chances, but that does not tell the full story and the team are fortunate to be in this Quarter Final.

Changes were made after the Extra Time win over Cape Verde as the manager looked to freshen up his starting eleven.

Predicted Line Up: Emiliano Martinez, Montiel, Tagliafico, Romero, Lisandro Martinez, Mac Allister, Fernandez, De Paul, Almada, Messi and Alvarez (4-4-2)

Switzerland

The last two European Championship runs have ended in Quarter Final losses, while Switzerland's national team reached the World Cup Quarter Final in 1934 and 1938. They hosted the World Cup Finals in 1954 and Switzerland reached the Quarter Final again, but that was the last time they had done that on the World Cup Stage until Tuesday evening when edging out Colombia on Penalties.

It was not the most convincing of performances, but Switzerland did what was needed to make it through to the last eight and they have 'nothing to lose' from here. Most will not be expecting Switzerland to have much more of an impact at the tournament, but this is a team that topped a Group containing Canada, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Qatar and they have earned back to back clean sheets in the two Knock Out ties played against Algeria and Colombia.

Switzerland are unbeaten in 8 games since losing a March international friendly to Germany, but 4 of those matches have ended in draws in normal time. It took Penalties to end the Switzerland run in the Euro 2024 Quarter Final against England, but the last World Cup run was ended emphatically in the Last 16 by Portugal.

Johan Manzambi missed the game against Colombia and remains an injury doubt for the Swiss.

Predicted Line Up: Kobel, Zakaria, Rodriguez, Akanji, Elvedi, Freuler, Xhaka, Sow, Rieder, Ndoye and Embolo (4-2-3-1)

Head to Head

Argentina scored deep into Extra Time to edge past Switzerland when the teams met in the Last 16 of the 2014 World Cup.

Seven previous meetings have now ended in 4 Argentina wins and 3 draws, although one of those victories was in Extra Time twelve years ago.

Prediction

The dramatic Argentina win over Egypt was controversial, but it was also important for the World Champions to avoid having to play Extra Time in consecutive Knock Out Rounds.

Hours later, Switzerland were pushed into Extra Time and then had to go through the drama of a Penalty Shoot Out to earn their place in the Quarter Final of the World Cup for the first time since hosting the 1954 tournament.

They have perhaps achieved the minimum of what they would have wanted when travelling to North America and that could make Switzerland dangerous.

Back to back clean sheets will have given them confidence after the struggles in earning those in the Group Stage, but Switzerland will be aware that they were second best against Colombia. Wastefulness from the South American nation proved costly, as it has throughout this World Cup run, but Switzerland have to pick up their levels if they are going to find a way past Argentina.

There have been vulnerabilities in the performances of the World Champions, but Johan Manzambi will be a big miss for Switzerland if he has to sit out again. That blunted the attacking display against Colombia, while Argentina have had big moments throughout this World Cup run and have shown they can make use of any chances that do come their way.

Argentina have been a team who will score plenty of goals and that may give them the edge in this one if they can create the same kind of opportunities as Colombia did. They will also take encouragement from the chances Canada had against the Swiss and Argentina have also had some familiarity with the conditions in this Stadium which should give them enough of an edge to win this one in normal time behind more scoring power.

The Pick :

Argentina 2-1 Switzerland

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Argentina to Win & Over 1 Total Goals (Bet Builder) at 2.15 with Bet365 (early payout if a team is leading by two goals)