Switzerland maintain their position and finished as runner up to Brazil in group G after a breathtaking comeback win over a very stubborn Serbia side on the night.
Brazil sealed top spot despite their 1-0 loss Cameroon on the night. Their superior goal difference over the Swiss ensures they did not surrender their position.
Serbia 2-3 Switzerland
It was the Swiss who opened the scoring after 20 minutes. Djibril Sow lays a simple pass to Xherdan Shaqiri and the player scores what was his fifth FIFA World Cup goal, becoming the only player, after Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to score in each of the last three editions.
It was also Shaqiri’s second goal against Serbia in the competition as his only goal in Russia more than four years ago came in a 2-1 group win over them.
Serbia though, were not behind for long this time as Aleksandar Mitrovic scored a superb header from a Dusan Tadic’s cross, beating Yann Sommer to restore parity at 1-1.
Dusan Vlahovic scored his first goal of the tournament in the 36th minute after the Swiss defenders struggle to get hold of possession on the edge of their own box.
The Juventus striker press on to get to the loose ball and fire his shot into the other side of Sommer to help Serbia established a lead which would have seen them through to the next round.
Switzerland were able to draw level before the break as Manuel Akanji did well to halt a Serbia attack, Silvan Widmer worked the ball forward before releasing Embolo, who scored his second of the tournament to make it 2-2.
Three minutes after the restart, Switzerland retake the lead. Xherdan Shaqiri’s cross into the box was flick to the path of Remo Freuler by Ruben Vargas and the Nottingham Forest midfielder takes a tough to set himself up before firing a low shot into the net.
Cameroon 1-0 Brazil
A much changed Brazil side asked all the questions but Cameroon Goalkeeper, Dervis Epassy stood his ground, spectacularly denied Gabriel Martinelli on multiple occasions and saved six shots on goal in total.
Three minutes into added time, Vincent Aboubakar heads home a Jerome Mbekeli’s cross to become the first player to score against Brazil in the ongoing competition.
The striker took off his shirt in celebration and having been already cautioned earlier in the match, he got a second booking and a subsequent red card was shown to the Cameroon talisman.
The goal would not come on the night for Brazil but they get the ticket for the next round as group winner and will face South Korea in the round of 16 while Switzerland, runner up faces Portugal.
Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi
