Football betting tips: World Cup
1.5pt Draw after 90 minutes at 13/5 (General)
*1pt Game decided after penalties at 5/1 (General)
0.5pt No Goalscorer including extra time at 13/1 (Sky Bet)
Despite a very favourable path Argentina have scraped their way through the opening two rounds of the knockout stage.
They went within nine minutes of a penalty shootout against Cape Verde, only saved that embarrassment by an own goal, before performing a far more dramatic rescue act in the last 16 to deny Egypt; with just a little help from the officials.
Three goals in the final 11 minutes overturned a 2-0 deficit and clinched a controversial victory, keeping alive their pursuit of back-to-back titles.
While Lionel Scaloni's side were both exhausted and relieved when the full-time whistle blew in the round of 32, there was an outpouring of emotion after their latest escape, with Lionel Messi in floods of tears as his World Cup journey continued for at least one more game.
Surely their luck will run out at some point? Switzerland could be the team to make sure it does.
Murat Yakin's side pose a much sterner test as the 14th-ranked team in the world, 10 places higher than Egypt and 50 above Cape Verde.
Unlike the holders' previous two opponents the Swiss are an experienced, hardened, consistent team competing at a seventh successive major-tournament, and in a seventh successive knockout phase.
Their reputation for being hard to beat is well earned, too.
Of their eight knockout matches during that time seven have seen under 2.5 goals which is an unsurprising general price of 4/6, with four going under 1.5 and three ending goalless after 90 minutes.
Only once have they lost by more than a goal in 90 minutes. Colombia, England, Spain and Poland were all taken to penalties and Argentina edged them 1-0 in extra time back in 2014.
The spine of their team throughout the majority of that period remains, with a sprinkling of exciting young players helping them to reach their first World Cup quarter-final since 1954.
Of all the quarter-final ties this looks the most likely to end as a DRAW AFTER 90 MINUTES and at a price of 13/5 that is our main selection.
I've already written elsewhere on the website about the historical tendency of World Cup quarter-final ties to be tight, backing several different angles including the 5/1 about this match TO BE DECIDED AFTER PENALTIES and a couple of trixies at 54/1 and 272/1 that may have aged badly by the time you read this...
Swiftly moving on, Sky Bet have been bold in their pricing of the NO GOALSCORER market in the knockout stage of this tournament and the 13/1 offered for that to be a winner after 120 minutes looks far too large, a bet that pays out if the only goals scored are own goals.
No firm is going bigger than 7s for no goalscorer after 90 minutes, and of the 16 last-eight ties to be level after normal time since the quarter-finals were re-introduced in 1986 only two have involved an extra-time goal, making the six-point bump in price well worth taking on.
Switzerland beat Colombia on penalties in the last round after a goalless draw, their second clean sheet in a row after seeing off Algeria 2-0.
Argentina will surely want to be more defensively secure than they have been in the last two rounds and return to the kind of organisation that has seen Scaloni's men record 30 clean sheets in 43 matches since the 2022 World Cup final.
Odds correct 15:45 BST (05/07/26)
More World Cup content from Sporting Life
Outright previews
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