Switzerland reached the World Cup knockout spherical for the third successive event after prevailing 3-2 over Serbia on Friday to complete runner-up in Group G and arrange a final 16 showdown with Portugal.
In a contest that ebbed and flowed at breakneck pace within the first half at Stadium 974, Xherdan Shaqiri put Switzerland forward however Serbia swiftly scored twice inside 10 minutes by Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dusan Vlahovic to flip the sport on its head.
Serbia vs Switzerland HIGHLIGHTS
Breel Embolo delivered one other twist in an absorbing opening interval by pulling Switzerland aspect degree simply earlier than the break, whereas Remo Freuler scored three minutes after the restart to revive their one-goal benefit once more.
Switzerland had fired warning photographs with barely 30 seconds on the clock, as captain Granit Xhaka’s strike was blocked by the Serbian defence earlier than goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic denied each Embolo one-on-one and likewise Xhaka on the rebound.
Serbia loved a spell of strain after that early scare, with Nikola Milenkovic heading broad from Dusan Tadic’s nook earlier than Andrija Zivkovic took goal from outdoors the penalty space and rattled the left submit with a robust effort.
Ricardo Rodriguez’s cross within the twentieth minute was cleared and fell to Djibril Sow, who picked out Shaqiri on the correct. The midfielder fired house a strike that took a slight deflection off Strahinja Pavlovic on its method into the online.
Fulham frontman Mitrovic headed in Tadic’s cross to deservedly draw Serbia degree six minutes later. Tadic was concerned once more and slipped the ball by to Vlahovic, who steered a low shot previous goalkeeper Gregor Kobel to finish the Serbian turnaround.
But Embolo slotted house Silvan Widmer’s low cross within the forty fourth minute and Freuler stored the momentum going by thumping within the fifth purpose of the night, as two splendidly labored strikes from the Swiss assault proved to be Serbia’s undoing.
Midway by the second half, Mitrovic went down too simply after a problem from Fabian Schaer however his appeals for a penalty have been turned down, and the Serbian dugout spilled onto the pitch protesting the referee’s determination.
Switzerland completed with six factors, degree with Group G winners Brazil however behind on purpose distinction. Serbia, which wanted a win to provide itself a preventing probability of advancing, completed backside of the group with just one level. It has by no means moved previous the World Cup group stage for the reason that breakup of Yugoslavia.
