Switzerland Advance After Thrilling Win Over Serbia

03/12/22 634

The group stages of the 2022 World Cup concluded on the 2nd of December with a fantastic match between Switzerland and Serbia in Group G.

The Swiss knew a draw would be enough to see them progress while Serbia had to win the match to have any chance of reaching the round of 16.

Serbia opted for a 3-5-2 formation and started Dusan Vlahovic in attack alongside Aleksandar Mitrovic. Despite their attacking intent in the opening 15 minutes which saw Andrija Zivkovic hit the post, it was Switzerland who opened the scoring after 20 minutes via a smart finish from Xherdan Shaqiri.

However, Serbia continued to push forward and it took only 6 minutes for them to find the equaliser courtesy of a tremendous header from Mitrovic.

Serbia were having the better of the first half and fully deserved to go into the interval ahead as Vlahovic sent a left footed shot into the far corner. As the first half ended, Serbia were the team in second place in the group behind Brazil but there was more drama to come. Switzerland equalised in the 44th minute as Breel Embolo slotted home from a low cross on the right.

Conceding the equaliser so close to half time came as a blow to Serbia and they struggled to assert themselves in the second half. Switzerland made a bright start and scored a well worked goal to take the lead for the second time in the match. Remo Freuler sent the goalkeeper the wrong way following a nice flick by Embolo to give the Swiss the advantage.

Serbia huffed and puffed but failed to put the Swiss defence under any constant pressure for the remainder of the game.

There was plenty of tension throughout the second half and things threatened to boil over as tempers flared near the end of the match. Granit Xhaka was pushed in the chest by Serbia's Nikola Milenkovic and both players received a yellow card.

There was also an incident between Xhaka and Mitrovic as it quickly became apparent Serbia were not going to score the goals they needed to progress.

Serbia started the game positively and could easily have gone in a half time winning the match. The concession of an equalising goal so close to half time dealt a massive blow to their confidence.

Switzerland came out in the second half and calmed the game down, making a double substitution in the 69th minute to close out the match.

Switzerland progress to the round of 16 where they will face Portugal. Serbia head home having finished bottom of the group with just 1 point to their name.