Xhaka urges Switzerland to keep dreaming ahead of Argentina clash
Granit Xhaka is not in Kansas City to make up the numbers. He is there to chase history.
On Saturday, the Switzerland captain will lead his country into a World Cup quarterfinal against Lionel Messi’s Argentina, the reigning champions and the tournament’s benchmark. For a nation that has never reached the last four, the scale of the task is obvious. Xhaka’s message to the fans is just as clear.
“Keep dreaming,” he told reporters in Kansas City, leaning into the belief that has driven Switzerland this far. “I am a person who always dreams and dreams can come true.”
This is no romantic sideshow for him. Xhaka called beating Argentina and reaching the semifinals Switzerland’s “overarching aim” – not a fantasy, a target. The challenge, he knows, lies in what happens between the whistles, not in the slogans around it.
“If we want to fulfil our dreams, you need to work, you need to sweat, you need to give it 100 per cent,” he said. “And sometimes you need to do something new. You really need to push your limits if you want to beat Argentina.”
That last line felt like a quiet mission statement. Switzerland have been disciplined, structured, typically Swiss in their progress. Against Messi, that may not be enough.
Yakin’s plan: many solutions, one problem called Messi
On the adjacent podium, Murat Yakin cut a composed figure. The Switzerland coach did not offer any grand tactical reveal, but he did not sound overawed either. His focus, inevitably, turned to the man who bends tournaments to his will.
He insisted he had “many solutions” to deal with Messi, who sits as joint-leading scorer at this World Cup with eight goals and remains the axis around which Argentina turn.
“Tomorrow, on the pitch, we will perform as a unit,” Yakin said. “We will try to play passes, press high against Argentina, who are the reigning champions.”
That phrase – “as a unit” – will define Switzerland’s night. Yakin knows there is little point in talking about individual duels with Messi. The battle is collective: the press, the distances between lines, the courage to hold a high block against a side that punishes hesitation.
“We can talk a lot, but in the end, it has to really translate on the pitch,” he added. “And we do have our solutions.”
The words were measured, but the intent was bold. High pressing against Argentina is a risk. It also might be Switzerland’s only way to tilt the game away from the comfort zone of the champions.
‘We have to be very smart’: Xhaka on the Messi problem
Xhaka did not pretend Switzerland can simply erase Messi from the game. No one at this level deals in that kind of illusion.
“I don’t know if we can stop him over 90 minutes,” he admitted. “It is going to be difficult.”
The honesty landed with weight. Then came the detail – the practical edge that has made Xhaka such a central figure for club and country.
“However, we have to be very smart. We’ll have to be compact, close the gaps, not give him too many spaces. We will try, obviously, to play in position. When we have the ball, he won’t be able to act as much.”
There is the crux of Switzerland’s approach. Not just containment, but control. Starve Messi of transitions. Deny him the broken-field chaos he thrives on. Keep the ball, keep the shape, keep the nerve.
It is one thing to map that out in a press conference room. It is quite another to execute it when Messi starts drifting between lines, when Argentina tighten the screw, when a quarterfinal hangs on a single lapse.
A key absentee and a test of depth
Yakin will have to do it without one of his standout performers. Midfielder Johan Manzambi, who shone in the group stage and gave Switzerland extra bite and balance, has failed to recover from injury and will not feature against Argentina.
The loss strips Switzerland of a dynamic presence in the middle of the pitch, an area where they can least afford to be light. It places even more responsibility on Xhaka to dictate tempo, on those around him to cover ground, and on Yakin’s “many solutions” to compensate for a missing piece.
Argentina arrive as champions, armed with Messi and momentum. Switzerland arrive with a plan, a captain urging a nation to keep dreaming, and a coach convinced his side can stand toe-to-toe.
On Saturday in Kansas City, the dream meets the reality. The question is no longer whether Switzerland dare to believe. It is whether they can push their limits far enough to rewrite their World Cup story.
