Messi praises Argentina teammate Julian Alvarez before World Cup semifinal
· Yahoo Sports
KANSAS CITY, MO — All World Cup, the Argentina national team has been looking for someone other than Lionel Messi to step up when needed most.
After Messi helped the Albiceleste to an extra-time win over Cape Verde in the round of 32 and spurred a round of 16 rally past Egypt, he had a quiet game by his lofty standards in the quarterfinal with Switzerland on Saturday, June 11. He set up the opening goal in the 3-1 extra time win from a corner kick but then watched as forwards Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez were able to score the decisive goals late in the game.
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A SENSATIONAL GOAL FROM JULIÁN ALVAREZ TO PUT ARGENTINA IN FRONT IN EXTRA TIME 🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/J3Ql16XwX3
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) July 12, 2026
Asked if Alvarez scored in Messi's style on Saturday, the Inter Miami star emphasized that Alvarez has a style all his own.
"No, no, he scored a golazo, but it’s not the first time. He’s scored several like that. It was a golazo," Messi said, using a word that emphasizes the quality of a well-hit goal. "He has a very good strike of the ball and showed it today. He’s been showing it for a long time.
"With Atletico Madrid, he had a lot of goals that were similar, and honestly I’m just happy with the result, because he scored, because Lautaro scored. We needed both of them. I’m very happy with everything."
The smiles come after another nervous night. Argentina started well with Messi's corner kick finding the head of Alexis Mac Allister for the opening goal in the 10th minute. But Switzerland found an equalizer through Dan Ndoye in the 67th minute. The Swiss were reduced to 10 men five minutes later after forward Breel Embolo saw a second yellow, with the Video Assistant Referee sending the center ref to the monitor to overturn a yellow shown to Argentina midfielder Leandro Paredes and instead book Embolo for simulation.
Even up a man, however, Argentina was unable to break down a resolute and physical Swiss defense, needing the extra-time period to get the breakthrough from Alvarez and the insurance from Martinez.
For Messi, it was another example of the team's resiliency that has not only pushed it to a July 15 semifinal against England, but also led to the team's World Cup win in 2022 and the triumphs in the Copa América in 2021 and 2024, the first trophies for Argentina at South America's continental championship since 1993.
"This group competes and never stops pushing, wanting more, to keep being on the level of the best," Messi said. "As I recently said, it’s not normal what this group has done: Being world champions, winning Copa América and getting back again to be among the four best teams, it’s not normal what it’s doing.
"You have to enjoy it like we are enjoying it, like the fans are enjoying it, as we saw. We’ll now go to compete once more as we always do against a power, a great national team."
While Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni praised the effort Messi still is putting in at age 39, recovery is paramount not only for Messi, but also for other veterans on the squad who have now had a pair of extra-time matches, plus the rally against Egypt in which the team emptied the tank to finish the game in 90 minutes.
"It’s about trying to rest because we’ve racked up a lot of minutes, had a lot of wear and tear," Messi said. "The group obviously feels that, so we have to go into the semifinal in the best condition to be able to do what we’ve been doing and compete."
Argentina is set for a recovery session Sunday night, training at its base camp in Kansas City, KS. Typically, the starting lineup from the previous day's game — which Scaloni didn't modify from his XI that faced Egypt — does not take part in the main session.
The full team will train July 13 before a July 14 session on the day before the game that usually sees full participation in less-intensive drills before the semifinal match on July 15.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Messi praises Argentina teammate Julian Alvarez before World Cup semifinal