2014 World Cup: Argentina struggle to beat Switzerland in the round of 16

The Argentina and Switzerland national teams played equally strong 0-0 in normal time in the eighth final of the 2014 World Cup which was held at the Arena de Sao Paulo. The match was forced to proceed to extra rounds and this is where the Tango Team's mental strength was tested.

Argentina controlled the game since the early minutes. The problem is, the Tango team has difficulty creating opportunities. Switzerland appear disciplined and managed to close the space for Argentina.

After 90 minutes of playing without a goal, Argentina and Switzerland had to go through extra time. The deadlock was broken after they played for 118 minutes. Lionel Messi, who managed to get past a Swiss defender, passed the ball to Di Maria. His shot went into the right corner of the goalkeeper and could not be anticipated.

With that result, the Tango Team managed to advance further in the 2014 World Cup tournament.

Messi Chosen as Man of the Match

Lionel Messi's Action at the 2014 World Cup (c) FIFA

Argentina captain Lionel Messi was named Man of the Match against Switzerland. Messi did not score but he had a big role in the creation of the decisive goal scored by Angel Di Maria.

At the moment when he entered the critical moment, Messi acted to penetrate the Swiss defense in the 118th minute. But Messi wasn't greedy, he gave Di Maria a pass and it was well done for the goal.

The official FIFA website immediately announced that Messi was the best player in the match which was held at the Corinthians Arena, Sao Paulo. La Pulga played 120 minutes with a total of 65 passes and two shots on goal.

This is the fourth time in a row Messi has been selected as Man of the Match for Argentina in this 2014 World Cup match.

Di Maria was banned from playing by Real Madrid Real Madrid

's plans to sell Di Maria could fall apart if the star appeared in the World Cup final. Angel Di Maria tore up a letter from Real Madrid asking him not to risk injury and miss the 2014 World Cup final.

The Juventus player is one of Argentina's backbones in Brazil but picked up a muscle injury in the first half of the quarter-final against Belgium. Di Maria admitted that he wanted to appear in the final against Joachim Low's men but Madrid had tried to block that desire.

"There are only three people who know the truth: doctor Daniel Martinez, coach Alejandro Sabella and me," he told Telefe.

"I knew Real Madrid wanted to sell me, then the letter came. Daniel explained it was from Real Madrid but I didn't see it and I tore it up." he said.