World Cup Results, 7 July: Messi’s Comeback, the Swiss Escape, and a Full Last Eight

There is a particular kind of silence that falls over a stadium when the holders are dying on their feet, and for a little over an hour in Atlanta on Tuesday, Argentina were living inside it. Two goals down to Egypt, the reigning champions looked every inch a team about to be written out of their own story. Then Lionel Messi and eleven extraordinary minutes rewrote it. By the time the last round-of-16 tie had finished in Vancouver, the quarter-final bracket was complete, and the shape of the tournament’s final week had snapped into focus. Here, for the Irish neutral catching up over a morning coffee, is how the drama unfolded.

Two Goals Down, Then Eleven Minutes of Messi

For 67 minutes it was going catastrophically wrong for Argentina. Egypt led through Yasser Ibrahim in the 15th minute and Mostafa "Zico" in the 67th, and the champions were staring at the earliest, most humiliating of exits. What followed was the stuff that keeps you loyal to this sport for a lifetime. Cristian Romero pulled one back in the 79th minute, Messi levelled it in the 83rd, and Enzo Fernández completed the turnaround deep into stoppage time in the 90+2 — three goals in eleven minutes, Argentina winning 3–2 from two down.

"It isn’t easy to come back from 2-0 down, but as I always say, this team never gives up," Messi told TyC Sports afterwards, and it was hard to argue. "I’m happy we made it through and with the way we did it. We knew it was going to be tough." It was a first competitive meeting between Argentina and Egypt, and it ended with the holders clinging to their crown by their fingernails — and with Messi’s goal carrying a significance beyond the scoreline, of which more below.

Switzerland Survive the Longest Night

If Argentina’s escape was operatic, Switzerland’s was a war of nerves. Their tie with Colombia in Vancouver produced no goals across 120 minutes — a taut, cagey stalemate that went all the way to a penalty shootout. The Swiss held their composure to win it 4–3, Rubén Vargas striking the decisive kick, and in doing so reached their first World Cup quarter-final since 1954. Seventy-two years of hurt, settled from twelve yards.

There was no romance for Colombia, who leave a tournament they had graced without losing a game in normal time. For Switzerland, a side that has spent this World Cup being resolute rather than spectacular, it is a reward for exactly that stubbornness — and it sets up a last-eight tie with Messi’s Argentina that few would have predicted a month ago.

What It Means: Messi Leads, Argentina’s Price Tumbles

Messi’s 83rd-minute equaliser was his eighth goal of the tournament, and it moved him clear at the top of the Golden Boot race — sole leader now, ahead of Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland on seven and Harry Kane on six. For a player who has now scored in nine consecutive World Cup matches, it was another line in a record that grows more absurd by the game.

The betting market reacted just as sharply. Argentina, who had drifted to something close to a write-off in-play while trailing 2–0 (out around the 46.0 mark, +4500, as the second Egyptian goal went in), were slashed back to around 4/1 (4.90) to lift the trophy once the comeback was complete — those prices from the FanDuel board carried by FOX Sports, timestamped the evening of 7 July 2026. It was one of the more violent single-match swings you will see on an outright market, and it tells you everything about how thin the margin was between a title defence intact and one in ruins.

The Last Eight Is Set

With Tuesday’s two results in the book, the quarter-final line-up is complete: France, Morocco, Spain, Belgium, Norway, England, Argentina and Switzerland. All three co-hosts are gone, and so — knocked out at the round of 16 by Norway — are five-time champions Brazil. For the Irish neutral, the map is simple enough: with the Republic never in the reckoning and Scotland long eliminated, England remain the last side from these islands standing, and they carry the adopted hopes of a good many living rooms into the last eight.

The fixtures come thick and fast. France meet Morocco in Foxborough on Thursday 9 July (21:00 IST), Spain face Belgium in Los Angeles on Friday 10 July (20:00 IST), and Saturday 11 July brings a double-header — Norway against England in Miami (22:00 IST) and Argentina against Switzerland in Kansas City in the small hours of Sunday, Irish time. Every minute is free-to-air on RTÉ, which is carrying all 104 matches across RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player. Our full breakdown of the tie that keeps the last flag flying lives on the England v Norway quarter-final preview, and the wider title picture is laid out on our World Cup 2026 odds page.

For those looking ahead to the betting heat, the four quarter-finals are broken down tie by tie on our predictions hub, and the Irish-licensed brands — names such as BillyBets and MrPacho — are pricing the last eight in euro and fractional odds. Whatever the week brings, keep it fun and keep it measured: our responsible betting guide is a two-minute read worth having before the quarter-finals begin.