3 2, Argentina almost capsized.

At midnight Beijing time on July 8, in Atlanta. Argentina beat Egypt 3-2.

The defending champion was given a scare by the African team. The numbers on the scoreboard looked more reasonable the other way around. Messi and Salah, the King and the Pharaoh, met in a World Cup knockout match. Messi's side won, but the process was far from as straightforward as the result.

The fact that Egypt even stood opposite Argentina was a piece of trivia in itself. In the Round of 32, they eliminated Australia, securing the first World Cup knockout victory in their history. Australia's efforts to match their Round of 16 finishes in 2006 and 2014 came to nothing. Looking further back, Argentina themselves didn't have an easy time in the Round of 32, beating Cape Verde at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami in a less-than-dignified manner. After the final matchday on July 3, every game in this half of the bracket became a single-elimination meat grinder—with the expansion to 48 teams, the giants no longer have warm-up matches.

Argentina is still catching its breath. The story on the other side of the bracket is more worth unpacking.

Colombia came out of Group K undefeated. They drew 0-0 with Portugal in the group stage and beat Ghana 1-0 in the Round of 32. From the group stage to the Round of 32, two clean sheets, not a single goal conceded. This isn't the kind of undefeated streak that looks good; it's the kind that grinds the opponent's attacking desire into the turf inch by inch. Fans at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City were thrilled; neutral fans were bored. But knockout tournaments never reward style, only survival.

Switzerland took a different path. Group B winners, they drew with Qatar in the group stage, crushed Bosnia and Herzegovina 4-1, and beat host nation Canada 2-1. In the Round of 32, they sent Algeria packing with a clean 2-0 victory. Four games, 8 goals scored, 2 conceded. On paper, their firepower far exceeds Colombia's, but knockout tournaments never look at the stats sheet. Portugal's Record ran a data model simulation before the match, concluding that the teams are evenly matched, but the model slightly favored the South Americans.

Someone on Hupu threw out the line, "Europe's second-tier best against South America's third." Crude, but the positioning was accurate.

This match kicks off at 4 a.m. Beijing time on July 8 at BC Place in Vancouver. For Switzerland, this isn't just a Round of 16 match. The last time they reached the World Cup quarterfinals was 1954. That year, the World Cup still had only 16 teams, and Pelé hadn't yet set foot on the international stage. Seventy-two years. Their three previous quarterfinal appearances all came in the ancient era—1934, 1938, 1954—and for three-quarters of a century since, the Swiss haven't even set foot on the quarterfinal turf.

Colombia's wait is much shorter, but they're equally eager. Their last quarterfinal appearance was at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. After that tournament, James Rodríguez moved to Real Madrid, and half of Colombia's golden window closed. Twelve years, three generations of players later, they still want to return to that benchmark.

The two teams have only met once in the World Cup. In 1994, Colombia won 2-0. They played another match in a 2007 friendly, with Colombia winning 3-1 again. In both encounters, the South Americans came out on top. The psychological advantage from those two wins, on a neutral ground like Vancouver, is worth half a life.

Argentina is already waiting in the quarterfinal seat for 9 a.m. on July 12. On that night of Atlanta's victory, the players from Switzerland and Colombia were still in their Vancouver hotel rooms watching video. Whoever wins will face the defending champion.

And they'll have four fewer days of rest than Argentina.