Switzerland have secured a spot in the last 16 after defeating Serbia in a frantic thriller in Ras Abu Aboud, turning a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 win thanks to a stunning second half goal from Remco Freuler.
The Swiss will now take on Portugal in the Round of 16, with Brazil slated to meet South Korea after they – just about – topped the group.
Cameroon secured a surprise 1-0 over the selecao – who were already through and rested most of their stars – but that was not enough to put them through. Vincent Aboubakar scored a late header, took his shirt off to celebrate, and was sent off.
Serbia are out, with their defensive limitations their ultimate undoing: they conceded eight across three games, far too porous to advance. The Swiss fared far better, shutting out Cameroon and keeping Brazil to just one – and that a wonder goal – and added attacking flair today, admittedly enabled by a generous Serbian defence.
This was, unquestionably, the game of the tournament so far. That had been predicted, with all the elements required for a cracker: tension, with neither side’s place secure, but also subtext, with the memories of 2018’s politically charged meeting fresh in the mind.
Back then, Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka scored for Switzerland and made gestures reflecting their Kosovar Albanian heritage, causing outrage in Serbia. In a game that didn’t need any hyping on the field, this had plenty off it as well. FIFA had to make several announcements within the stadium against discriminatory chanting from Serbian fans.
On the pitch, more than delivered. Switzerland might have scored within 30 seconds, as Breel Embolo and Xhaka, following up, had presentable chances. Andrija Zivokic replied by hitting a post for Serbia.
Shaqiri, booed and whistled throughout his time on the park, got the first on 20 minutes. It was emblematic of what the Swiss did well and what the Serbs failed to do.
Ricardo Rodriguez advanced high up the left and crossed from almost the byline, with the rebound falling to Djibril Sow, who showed all his composure to pick out Shaqiri, who did the rest. Serbia, set up in a 3-5-2, were left wondering where both of their wingbacks were.
The struck back, however, in characteristic fashion. Dusan Tadic won the ball in midfield, broke and picked Mitrovic in the middle. The Fulham striker might be the best header of a ball in the world, and his finish into the far corner was perfection.
Shaqiri should have put Switzerland back in front, and was immediately made to rue his miss, with Dusan Vlahovic placing beyond Gregor Kobel in the Swiss goal after a Mitrovic pass.
On the brink of half time, it was 2-2. Again, the wing defence of Serbia was side open as the Swiss advanced and again, Sow was the man to expose it. He fed Silvan Widmer on the right, who crossed low to give Embolo a simple back post finish.
The turnaround was completed through one of the goals of the tournament. Shaqiri was the architect, dinking a pass into Ruben Vargas, who backheeled a pass for Freuler to apply the finish.
Though Serbia needed to score twice to go through, it was Switzerland who looked more likely. Embolo missed a sitting – though he may have been offside – and Manuel Akanji sent a free kick into the sidenetting. In response, the Serbs only managed efforts from range.
In the closing stages, Cameroon grabbed a goal against Brazil and briefly opened the door for Switzerland to top the group, but they proved much more interested in winding up Serbian players than scoring goals. Nemanja Radonjic fired wide late on, but that was that.
sportstar111
Roar Rookie
I'm not Croatian hahah. I'll happily denounce any Ustase chants and am the first to point out the behaviour of Croatian fans both in the diaspora and in Croatia. Not sure why you're speaking in Serbo-Croat now. Don't engage with what I'm saying though !
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
nemas pojma sta pricas o ustaskom smecu
sportstar111
Roar Rookie
Hahaha - suspending players for shushing a crowd making abusive chants the whole time. Ridiculous. How about Piksi abusing Xhaka? The crowd abused the Kosovan players with abusive chants all game. You are the same person who advocated for harsher sanctions on the Victory crowd when they abused Yengi. Be consistent mate. You cry foul when Croatian fans behave poorly but support the Serbian fans' abuse. What the Croatians did to Borjan was disgusting. So too the Serbian fans to Xhaka, Jashari and Shaqiri. Kosovo is Kosovo. Kosovo is free. Albania is Albania. Albania is free.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
Lol How about some fifa suspensions for shaqiri for running to the fans and antagonising them with the "shush" Or better yet granit going to thr bench and grabbing his crotch and telling them to suck it Or the Swiss players waving to the fans As usual the people that instigate it, will get away free Yet serbia will be fined for crowd chants. Go.figure This is the problem with the Western media, they don't report on things like this Same goes for Croatia and the treatment they gave to the Canadian born goalie Always first to cry victim, but they are always the ones that start chaos first No different in Australia with the Croatian backed npl clubs and thr Albanian backed amature league clubs across the nation
Garry
Roar Rookie
OK I nibbled a bit but this is a tricky topic so we should stay out of the politics here please.. :unhappy:
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
Same principle as Australia belonging to aboriginals and America belonging to native Americans
sportstar111
Roar Rookie
Once again Shaqiri and Xhaka get revenge for Serbia's genocide of Kosovo. Once again they show that hatred and violence will not win. Once again Serbia fail to get rid of Kosovo.
Garry
Roar Rookie
Started as part of Serbia, no longer is
Garry
Roar Rookie
Its a tricky rule - Iand I think mainly to do with sponsors, probably sb waived in strict circumstances.
Garry
Roar Rookie
My mind says this is the biggest underdog tourney but probably isnt if you check the others!
Garry
Roar Rookie
I need a tv with PIP ! I switched in time tpo see the first swiss goal but mainly watched Brazil & Co. Glad to see the Swiss qualify over AA's Serbia pick - theyre a strange team, sometimes can mix it with the big boys but struggle against the lower teams. They were 'the better team on the day' - as of course were Brazil who couldnt score.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
Actually, I just double checked the draw, and not only does Sth Korea have to get past Brazil, but if Japan beats Croatia (which I expect to be the case), more than likely they have to play Brazil - so it might be a very hard ask getting an Asian team into the semis.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
Yeh, I know, I just wanted to watch Brazil v Cameroon, and I was ok with that, even if the other game was higher scoring.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
hard to pick which gamer to watch, I switched a few times and lucky to see that goal
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
Looking like the best AFC performance since 2002. Most probably this will match that, with one Asian team making the semis.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
I was watching, and initially thought it an odd thing to do...and then the penny dropped.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
Yes yes everyone knows thr history, the same way they know Kosovo is serbian land
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
If all goes well for AFC nations, we could see an all AFC quarter and semi
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
Granit Xhaka’s father was a political prisoner in Serbia when he protested against Yugoslavia. They fled to Switzerland after Taulant (Granit’s older brother who plays for Albania) was born. Shaqiri fled Kosovo as a toddler. Serbian fans taunted them about their Albanian/Kosovan roots in 2018. They shut them up by scoring and doing the Albanian Eagle celebration. The duo owned Serbia today once again. Xhaka had the Serbian bench wrapped round his finger for the lols. Even started a whole brawl late in the second half. Serbia were too busy trying to play Albania v Serbia games against Shaqiri and Xhaka. Xhaka and Shaqiri just ended their WC campaign for the second consecutive time.
Grem
Roar Rookie
What a World Cup - No Italy at the start, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Serbia and Uruguay are out and the Socceroos still there. That’s pretty impressive. Now we just have to knock out Argentina, and the USA or the Netherlands to make the semis. It can’t possibly happen, can it?