Author: Nancy Armour, USA TODAY

Theo Hernandez and Randal Kolo Muani score for Les Bleus as the defending World Cup champions advance to Sunday’s final against Messi and Argentina.

Lionel Messi’s probable last chance to win a World Cup comes Sunday, when Argentina will play the winner of the France and Morocco semifinal.

No team has successfully defended its World Cup title since Brazil in 1962. Les Bleus will play Morocco in Wednesday’s semifinal.

Argentina defeats the Netherlands on penalties to reach semifinals and keeps Lionel Messi’s hopes of winning elusive World Cup title alive.

Heavy favorites going into the World Cup, Brazil failed to close out the match against Croatia. The nation has lost four quarterfinals since 2002.

Ahead of the quarterfinals, a look at the winners and losers from the first 17 days of the World Cup, and the team that falls somewhere in the middle.

US men exit in the round of 16 again. Since returning to the World Cup in 1990 after a 40-year absence, they have won just one knockout round game.

Christian Pulisic played but was not in top form after suffering an injury and the USMNT missed too many chances to score.

After leaving the game against Iran with a pelvic contusion, Christian Pulisic returns to the starting lineup vs. Netherlands.