Argentina claimed their place in the last eight of the World Cup thanks to a 118th minute winner from Angel Di Maria.
The initial stages of the match were played at a snail's pace as there were no real clear-cut chances for either side. Argentina's slow movement on the ball and their inability to break down a compact, Swiss defence continued what has become somewhat of a trend for La Albiceleste this World Cup.
Switzerland's primary tactic was to sit deep and break down the Argentine's on the counter attack. Indeed, attacking midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri looked problematic for a jaded Argentine defence and he almost assisted Granit Xhaka from a short corner midway through the first half, but the midfielder's shot was too close to keeper Sergio Romero.
The slow tempo of the game was not helped by persistent fouling from both teams and it was clear that resilience would be the key ingredient for a winning formula.
Josip Drmic squandered a great opportunity five minutes before the interval; Shaqiri fed him in acres of space behind the defence but the Bayer Leverkusen man got very little power behind his attempted lob over Romero. And so it was stalemate when the referee blew for half-time.
As the second half began, Argentina looked to play with more width and looked a much more vibrant side, as they troubled Diego Benaglio in the Swiss goal with a few crosses. Both Marcos Rojo and Gonzalo Higuain forced Benaglio into quick reaction saves.
Alejandro Sabella's Argentina were now on the front foot but still couldn't find the back of the net. Lionel Messi came close with a volley immediately after chesting the ball down, narrowly missing the crossbar.
The Swiss remained aggressive in their tackling and Ottmar Hitzfeld brought off Xhaka, who picked up a yellow in the first half and could easily have been shown another. Gelson Fernandez replaced Xhaka and entered the referee's notebook himself shortly after.
Messi again troubled Benaglio after he trapped a headed clearance on the edge of the area and dribbled into space before hitting a shot into the near post, which led to a scramble in front of goal and a penalty claim as substitute Rodrigo Palacio went down under the cosh.
It was one of those encounters which had extra-time written all over it, and indeed, at the end of ninety minutes the two sides were still square at 0-0.
Argentina continued shifting the ball out wide but it was to no avail. Penalties looked inevitable as both sides looked fatigued in the searing heat.
The match however, did not need to be decided by penalties as Messi found Angel Di Maria costless on the right hand side after Messi himself drove with the ball through the middle; the Real Madrid winger only needed one touch to pass it across goal into the far post.
Despite Di Maria's goal coming in the 118th minute, there was still time for more drama; Diego Benaglio joined the attack for a corner, from which Blerim Dzemaili hit the post.
Xherdan Shaqiri was then awarded a costless-kick on the edge of the area, but he could not keep the ball from hitting the huge wall that stood in front of him.
Another less than impressive Argentina win, however they were relentless and refused to give up, scoring at the death. La Albiceleste will now play either Belgium or USA in the quarter finals on Saturday evening in Brasilia.