A Red Card for Diving Cost Switzerland Its World Cup Dream. The Coach Is Furious.

Switzerland is heading home from the World Cup, and they’re not happy about how it happened. Saturday night’s quarterfinal in Kansas City ended 3-1 in favor of Argentina after extra time, but the big talking point has nothing to do with Lionel Messi or Julian Alvarez’s game-winner. It’s about a red card that never had to happen.

Things were looking decent for the Swiss early. They went into halftime down 1-0, and Argentina seemed to have everything under control. But then Dan Ndoye banged in an equalizer in the second half, and suddenly the underdogs had all the momentum. The crowd was buzzing. Switzerland looked like they might actually pull this off.

Then came the 72nd minute.

Striker Breel Embolo went down in the box. Looked like he was trying to draw a foul. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t. The referee decided it was a dive and hit him with a second yellow card. That meant a red, an ejection, and Switzerland playing the rest of the game with 10 men.

Swiss coach Murat Yakin didn’t hold back after the match. “After the equalizer, we had the momentum on our side, and I wanted to make substitutions there as well, to bring on fresh attacking players,” he told ESPN. “We were dominant. We controlled the game. But the red card, we are punished because of a rule that is, to me, absolutely incomprehensible. Of course it hurts enormously that we were eliminated in this way. We didn’t deserve that today.”

A Fight That Eventually Fell Apart

Credit to Switzerland. They held on for the last 25 minutes of regulation and forced extra time despite being down a man. But Argentina kept pressing. It felt like only a matter of time before someone in blue and white found the net. In the 112th minute, Julian Alvarez did exactly that. Lautaro Martinez added an insurance goal in stoppage time to make it 3-1.

For the Swiss, this is a brutal way to go out. They survived an absolute war against Colombia in the Round of 16. They played their hearts out for 70 minutes against Argentina. One questionable call flipped everything.

Argentina moves on to face England in the semifinals on Wednesday in Atlanta. England knocked off Norway in extra time thanks to a massive game from Jude Bellingham. The defending champs are two wins away from repeating. But if you ask Switzerland, they’ll tell you the whole thing left a bad taste.