Improbable Group F toppers, Sweden, take on Switzerland in St. Petersburg on Wednesday morning. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 12am – midnight (AEST).
Both teams have displayed moments of brilliance in this tournament – Sweden in particular – and will take a lot of confidence into this game. Sweden pulled off a spectacular deconstruction of Mexico in their final game, winning 3-0 in a barnstorming second-half performance.
Switzerland, on the other hand, has eased into this tournament, picking their moments to strike on the counter or from set pieces. They kept their defensive shape solid against Brazil, drawing equal and getting a point, and followed up with a sucker-punch winner on the counter against Serbia in a politically charged game 2.
This match represents a great opportunity for both teams to finally break their runs of Round 16 failure. Neither team has won their round of 16 matches this millennium despite being ever present (in tournaments they participated in).
Switzerland, in particular, has been unable to turn their consistent World Cup group performances into a quarter-final and will see this as their best chance yet.
Tactically this game should contain some end-to-end thrill rides. Sweden is a tactical throwback – a compact defence with two narrow banks of four with two big strikers up front to lump it to. Their squad is light-on for elite talent – the exception being RB Leipzig’s Emil Forsberg.
Sweden’s gameplan is engineered to downplay their lack of elite ability on the ball. In possession they do not muck around, looking to create high percentage shots from long balls and set pieces as close to the goalmouth as possible.
They play their two strikers Marcus Berg and Ola Toivonen on the shoulders of the centre-backs to chase down balls over the top, or look to use Forsberg as the link man when he drifts inside from the left.
Sweden were second in the group stage for attacks engineered through the inside channel, and 74 per cent of their shots come from the middle of the pitch. Underlining their no-frills approach play was that Sweden were ranked 30th in the group stage for short passes.
Sweden are high octane, decisive, as direct as possible through the middle of the pitch. Their three goals against a flailing Mexico all came from overloads in the box and from set pieces – creating panic in the Mexican area.
The Swiss play a very different style – much more circumspect in their approach. They sit deep in defence, and usually look to transition more patiently through their tiny talisman Xherdan Shaqiri. Shaqiri is Switzerland’s game manager; happy to run or jog with the ball at his left foot or look to slide passes to his forwards. Around Shaqiri is a sea of very talented technical players, including Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka whose exultant goal against Serbia was one of the hits of the tournament so far.
Unlike the Swedes, the Swiss build into attack and were 10th in the short passing stats. Where Switzerland is let down is their lack of frontline finishing, and they have relied on their brilliant midfield to produce the goals.
Prediction
Sweden will be hoping to catch this Swiss team on the backfoot as often as possible, but the disciplined Swiss – who held out Brazil but for a brilliant long-range curler from Coutinho – will be alert to this.
In midfield, Switzerland has the strength and should be able to land a couple of killer blows.
Switzerland 2-1.
Lionheart
Guest
I'm confused by that late penalty that was rightfully changed to a free-kick. The ref issued a Red card as obviously the defender was the last line of defence and Sweden probably would have scored. But we had a similar incident just a day or two ago, I can't recall in which match, where the penalty was awarded but a yellow card. The callers said that was right, there was a new rule that stopped double jeopardy - the ref can award a penalty, the ref can award a red card, but the ref can't award both as it's double punishment for the same offence. So, who's right?
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
MATCH SUMMARY Sweden win this game with a lucky strike from their star Emil Forsberg in the 66th minute that took a wicked deflection off Swiss defender Manuel Akanji. It wasn't a pretty game, and both teams battled to impose their style and create meaningful opportunities. Neither side was able to emulate their brighter moments from the Group stage; in particular Switzerland who struggled to create value out of their overwhelming weight of possession (68% vs Sweden's 32%). This wasn't a vintage Swedish forward performance by any means, but their goal was well taken (albeit very fortunate). Forsberg drifted in and out of this game but was able to find enough space for the shot which turned out to be enough to settle this match. Swiss didn't seem to be equipped or set-up to exploit the enormous weight of possession they had. Sweden was always going to give the ball to Switzerland, but the Swiss wasted their possession by trying too often to whip crosses into their smaller forwards - Drmic for much of the game - who was never going to be able to outjump or outshine the big Swedish defenders. The second half in particular was a real test of Swiss skill and patience, as the Swedish midfield block - martialled by Albin Ekdal - allowed little space or time on the ball for the creative Swiss midfielders to put through their forwards into dangerous positions. Switzerland had 11 corners in this game, but each one was cleared with relative ease by the Swedes who had enough bodies in the box to also block the countless shots from those clearances. Goalkeeper Robin Olsen was tested, but was imperious in goal and is in red-hot form in this World Cup. Ultimately the story of this tournament for Switzerland was indeed their inability to capitalise on their approach play, and the absence of a top shelf forward capable of finishing off the great work of elite midfielders like Shaqiri and Xhaka. This game will be used as exhibit A for that analysis in Swiss post mortems. In the end the Swiss striker - Drmic - next to no impact in a game dominated by the Swedish central defenders Lindelof and captain Granqvist. The best - and only real - chance came from Dzemili in the first half and after that was skied over the bar after some clever approach play. Alas for Switzerland they were unable to create another chance like that for the rest of the game. Breel Embolo - who came in that second half - offered some run and industry on the left hand side - getting into the box in a handful of cases but ran into a wall of Swedes on each occasion. On reflection starting with Embolo added a ground-threat to the Swedes and put them on the back foot, but this was a poor tactical game for Swiss manager Vladiimir Petkovic who's plan A was nullified with ease by the Swedes. There will be dancing in the streets of Stockholm tonight. The Swedes are into their first quarter final of a World Cup since their Semi Final run in USA 1994. They will now face the winner of today's late game between England and Colombia. The big concerns out of this will be Emil Forsberg, who looked ginger coming off late in that second half, and seems to have picked up a knock. Right back Mikael Lustig of Celtic will definitely miss after picking up his second yellow card of the tournament, but one feels that Forsberg's spark will be harder to replace than a defender. But Sweden go through tonight in an armwrestle - and a bit of a let down after the excitement of the other knockout games in this World Cup - winning 1-0.
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
FULL TIME SWEDEN wins this 1-0! There's late drama as a penalty to Sweden is overturned by VAR as the challenge was made just outside the box - but it's immaterial for the Swedes. Toivonen batters his free kick, and it's saved, but the referee calls fulltime seconds later. So Sweden go through here into a Quarterfinal, and will face either England or Colombia. Switzerland had their chances but were toothless in front of goal and could not break down the Swedish defense with any great intelligence.
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
94' - PENALTY TO SWEDEN! and a RED CARD to Lang! The Swiss have everyone forward and Olsson breaks and Lang takes him down when he's through on goal. VAR reviews the location of the challenge and it's just outside. The red card stands but it's a free kick now inside the D
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
93' - Everyone is back here for Sweden! A clearance hits the ref and plays Embolo in but they still can't produce any quality with the final ball!
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
92' - Shaqiri runs the wide right space with urgency but his cross goes nowhere. They haven't learned a thing in this game!
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
91' - SAVE FROM OLSEN! Fantastic save! Seferovic gets his head on the end of a cross but his low shot is stopped with command from the Swedish keeper.
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
3 minutes of extra time as we pass the 90 here in St. Petersburg
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
The Swiss are going home if they can't find something here! The Swedes are milking the clock for everything they can. Another SUB for them as Berg goes off for Thelin
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
87' - The pressure is intense here from Switzerland but they cannot find a an avenue to goal. Sweden break and win a CORNER but it's largely an excuse to waste time for the Swedes
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
85' - Switzerland are PEPPERING the Swedish goal here to no avail! Their 11th CORNER was cleared by Olsen before another long range shot from Rodriguez is BLOCKED by a sea of Swedes
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
There are 6 minutes + left here for Switzerland in this tournament if they can't find the equaliser!
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
83' - Another enterprising run from Embolo on the left is broken up inside the box by the Swedes. They are hanging on here as Switzerland throw everything at them in the last 10 minutes.
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
81' - And it looks like Forsberg is off. He walks off gingerly and might have picked up a knock. In fact it's a double SUBSTITUTION for Sweden. Forsberg and Lustig are off - Lustig is limping off as well - and Olsson and Krafth are on
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
81' - SAVED by Olsen from a long range shot / cross from Shaqiri
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
80' - CLEARED off the line from yet another CORNER. This corner is pointed into a crop of Swiss players but the header is cleared off the line by Forsberg
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
78' - It's the 9th CORNER for Switzerland here, but they just can't find any love inside the box with this big Swedish defence. But the approach play from Embolo creates that chance, running into the box from the left to force the corner.
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
76' - Good chance for Claesson and he can't find his balance inside the box to get a shot off, and ends up just falling over!
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
Double SUBSTITUTION for the Swiss - two forwards Embolo and Seferovic are on for Zuber and Dzemili
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
71' - SHOT WIDE from Shaqiri - and that took a big deflection that could have gone anywhere. It's gone out for a CORNER and a long chance for Xhaka is BLOCKED from the clearance