Argentina advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup after a late goal from Angel Di Maria gave them a 1-0 win over Switzerland Tuesday.

Here are some things we learned from the match:

1. Argentina's Offense is Heavily Overrated

What is the excuse this time?

After the first game against Bosnia-Herzegovina, the complaint was about the 5-3-2 system not suiting Lionel Messi. After the second game against Iran, there were questions about coach Alejandro Sabella and his star man seeing eye-to-eye. Against Nigeria, Messi covered for his mediocre team with an outstanding performance that led to three goals. But during the first half against Switzerland, it became clear that this Argentina lacks the offensive punch to be a true juggernaut. Messi continued to create space for himself, but Switzerland's tight defense did not give him outlets for passing. His teammates did not help matters as they wandered about the pitch without a sense of direction. Only Angel Di Maria seemed to have some purpose, but even he has yet to play up to the level expected from him.

Moreover, the team has lacked any variety in the attack and constantly reverted passing the ball into the box. The result is that they did not get any quality chances in the opener. They never experimented with testing Diego Benaglio from long-range, making it even easier for Switzerland to get out of their end.

Things improved in the second half as the team attempted to put its possession to better use. And while the chances were certainly there more often, Messi was the man creating them. He forced a great save from Benaglio close to the 80th minute, but his teammates did little to help him out. When the goal finally came late in extra time, it was Messi who made it happen.

2. Argentina Defense is a huge liability

Argentina's ability to recover the ball throughout the opening half was pitiful. Switzerland was able to come out of the box with relative ease, even when there was chaos in the penalty area. And once they got organized, the Europeans could spring a potent counter that created more opportunities than its rivals. Sergio Romero made a huge save early in the half, and then Granit Xhaka blew a huge chance on a breakaway.

This lack of speed or coverage at the back is a huge problem for this team that other more skilled teams (Belgium or the Netherlands) could easily exploit in transition.

3. Switzerland showed its true colors

The Swiss entered the tournament as a seeded team but many questioned whether it was deserved. The team qualified by beating an easy group of UEFA teams and then lucked out by drawing one of the easier groups in the competition. The team played competently against Argentina, but it was clear that the Swiss are not an elite team. The counter attack was rather slow throughout and the team's ability to retain possession was far from credible. The Swiss showed some interesting passing abilities in the first half of extra time, but rarely managed to top that passage time. Xherdan Shakiri had a wonderful tournament for his country, but the rest of the team lacked the level of quality to truly look like a contender. That said, this was a game the team not only could have, but should have won. Switzerland was gifted a number of scoring chances by a poor Argentina defense, but was never really able to capitalize and flubbed one prominent chance in the first half.

Man of the Match

Diego Benaglio

Angel Di Maria scored the goal and Lionel Messi dominated play in the midfield, but Benaglio was the man who kept his team in the game for close to 120 minutes. He made some phenomenal saves throughout the game and even moved all the way up the pitch to help out the squad on the attack. It was a solid performance from a top keeper.