DHAKA: Having bounced back from a thumping 5-2 defeat by France to convincingly beat Honduras, Switzerland will have raise their level still further on Tuesday when they face Argentina in the round of 16 in Sao Paulo.

Ottmar Hitzfeld’s side have proven to be something of a mixed bag thus far, scraping a late victory against Ecuador before their heavy loss to Les Bleus and responding with a Xherdan Shaqiri-inspired 3-0 win over Luis Suarez’s Central Americans.

Shaqiri will again be the man of whom much will be expected across Switzerland, with his hat-trick in Manaus having raised the bar following the less than convincing performances which had preceded their final Group E fixture.

Next though, they face an Albiceleste side benefiting from Lionel Messi’s first truly outstanding World Cup run. His four goals in their faultless Group F campaign have helped the Barcelona man to be picked out as the star of the tournament so far.

Like the Swiss, Alejandro Sabella’s men have no suspension worries, having been brandished only a single yellow card in three games, but they are without Sergio Aguero thanks to a leg muscle injury. Ezequiel Lavezzi is likely to step into his place, with Rodrigo Palacio also in consideration.

Hitzfeld, meanwhile, has been hit by the loss of reserve striker Mario Gavranovic, who flew home on Sunday after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in training.

 This will be the seventh international meeting between Argentina and Switzerland. Argentina are unbeaten in their previous six (W4 D2).

The only previous World Cup meeting between these two sides came back in 1966, when Argentina defeated Switzerland 2-0.

After failing to score in seven successive World Cup appearances, Lionel Messi has netted four goals in his three appearances at the 2014 finals, reports gaol.com.

Argentina have won their last three World Cup second round ties; winning on penalties versus England in 1998 and beating Mexico in both 2006 and 2010.

BDST: 1431 HRS, JUN 30, 2014