If you’re getting sick of us talking about Lionel Messi in Stat, Viz, Quiz this summer, boy do we have some bad news for you…
Yes, that man was at it again on Tuesday, playing a starring role in Argentina’s comeback win over Egypt in the World Cup round of 16. As usually happens when Messi plays, records were broken/extended, and we’ll run through them here.
It wasn’t all positive for the 39-year-old, though, as his problems from the penalty spot continued.
Speaking of penalties, the other game on Tuesday between Switzerland and Colombia was decided via a shootout. The Swiss won, sealing their first World Cup quarter-final since 1954, and did so following a notable trend that could make coin tosses even more important when it comes to spot-kicks.
Missing Players takes us back to 1994 and a famous day for the Republic of Ireland, while our Ask Opta question is about red cards.
😮 STAT - Second is Best in Penalty Shootouts
Very little happened in normal time in Vancouver.
Switzerland and Colombia had played out a goalless draw that featured a combined xG of just 0.7, the lowest of any game at this World Cup after 90 minutes.
Things perked up after that. In fact, Colombia had more shots in extra-time (8) than they had in normal time (7), but they couldn’t find a way through.
So, for the fourth time at the 2026 World Cup, a game went to penalties.
Neither team had won a penalty shootout at a World Cup before, so confidence likely wasn’t high. In fact, both had lost to England on penalties at major tournaments; that’s how bad they have been in the past (Colombia at the 2018 World Cup, Switzerland at Euro 2024).
The crucial moment appeared to happen at the coin toss between captains Granit Xhaka and Davinson Sánchez. Switzerland won the toss to decide which end the penalties would be taken, but Colombia got to decide who would go first.
Sánchez clearly hadn’t decided beforehand as he called over goalkeeper Camilo Vargas to ask him, and between them, they chose to go first.
As it turned out, that was probably a mistake.