Lionel Messi’s World Cup scoring streak ends, but his assist sparks Argentina’s win over Switzerland

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Lionel Messi had his World Cup scoring streak snapped by Switzerland on Saturday night, but the co-leader with France’s Kylian Mbappé in the race for the Golden Boot nevertheless found his way to leave his mark with an assist in Argentina’s 3-1 victory.

The game was only in the 10th minute when Messi — who needed some help from a trainer after a blow near his right eye in the second half — helped to earn a corner kick with some nifty footwork. From there, the Inter Miami star delivered a perfect ball into the box, and Alexis Mac Allister was there to head it home for a 1-0 lead.

Switzerland equalized in the 67th minute and the game eventually went to extra time, but Julian Alvarez sent a rocket into the upper corner of the net in the 112th minute and Lautaro Martinez added a closing goal for good measure for the defending champions.

Now, Argentina will play England in the semifinals on Wednesday in Atlanta.

One of the first questions asked of Swiss coach Murat Yakin before the match was how to stop Messi, who had scored in his last nine World Cup matches, his last six in the knockout round. He also holds the tournament record with 21 career goals.

“This is a very surprising question,” Yakin replied, jokingly. “There are many solutions, and we will try to find the best solution. … We can talk a lot about it, but in the end it has to really translate onto the pitch, and we do have our solutions.”

In truth, the Swiss did a good job of holding the dynamic goal-scorer in check.

Messi began his World Cup romp in the same building just over three weeks ago, when he scored his first-ever hat trick in the tourney while sending Argentina to a 3-0 win over Algeria. He had gone on to score eight goals as his team reached the quarterfinal round.

Not everything has been charmed for Messi during the World Cup, though. He missed penalty kicks against both Austria and Egypt, and the second one could have proven catastrophic given Argentina eventually found itself in a 2-0 hole.

But it also was Messi who helped get Argentina on the board in the 79th minute by assisting on Cristian Romero’s header, and it was the unflappable and ageless attacking midfielder who beat Egypt goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir four minutes later to level the score.

Enzo Fernandez eventually provided the winner in stoppage time to send Argentina into the matchup with Switzerland.

“He’s like a machine,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said of Messi, whose every World Cup match could be his last in a national team jersey. “Those that are not so much acquainted with him might be surprised, and at 39 years of age some people might think he will not rise to the challenge. But I’ve said this before, as long as he wants to be the best — and I’m not saying this because I’m coaching him — but because if he wants to continue, he will continue to be the best.”

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