Recaps: USA Heartbreaking Loss to Belgium and Argentina Prevails Late Again

On Tuesday, there were the last two Round of !6 matches. First was Argentina vs. Switzerland. In the 28th minute, Xherdan Shaqiri passed to teammate Granit Xhaka who shot one direct but Argentina keeper Sergio Romero saved. In the 59th, Diego Benaglio, the Swiss keeper, saved Marcus Rojo`s shot from a tight angle. In the 62nd, Benaglio tipped Gonzalo Higuain`s header over the bar. In the 78th minute, Lionel Messi shot one low near the near post but Benaglio saved it before it was cleared. In extra time, Benaglio saved two headers from Rodrigo Palacio`s header in the 94th and tipped over Angel Di Maria`s shot in the 109th. Argentina scored the decider when unmanned Messi passed to Di Maria, who carefully shot it low by the far post. Swiss had chances when sub Blerim Dzemaili in stoppage time headed one off the post, off his knee, and out. The last chance was a easily saved header that Romero got before he cleared away for the win.
The last match this round was the heartbreaking 2-1 USA loss vs. Belgium in extra time. USA keeper Tim Howard made the most saves in a WC game(16) in over 50 years. In the first seconds, Howard used his legs to block Divock Origi`s shot. Belgium keeper Thibaut Courtois saved Clint Dempsey`s shot in the 28th minute just out of the box. In the 2nd half, Kevin De Bruyne crossed to Dries Mertens, but Howard tipped over his header. Jan Vertonghen shot one from a tight angle that Howard saved in the 57th. In the 69th, Axel Witsel shot a low shot just wide and Courtois stopped Dempsey`s shot in the 71st. In the 72nd, Howard blocked Origi`s shot with his legs. Kevin Miralles shot one in the middle in the 76th, but Howard again stopped. Eden Hazard`s shot in the 79th went to Howard, and Vincent Kompany`s shot he deflected. USA nearly scored in additional time when Chris Wondolowski when he was one on one with Courtois, but his shot went over. In extra time, Belgium scored in the 93rd when sub Romelu Lukaku got the ball. He lost it to the US, but they failed to clear it because De Bruyne got it from close range before shooting it low past Howard. In the 105th, Howard was beat again when Lukaku got De Bruyne`s thorough ball and tipped it past Howard. USA made it 2-1 when sub Julian Green, 19, scored the latest US WC goal in the 108th when he side-footed his shot in past Courtois from a Michael Bradley. US had more chances when Jermaine Jones shot wide of the post and Clint Dempsey was stopped one on one with Courtois with his low shot as Belgium won and will face Argentina in the quarters.