Match 47 of the ongoing FIFA 2022 World Cup brought Switzerland face-to-face with Serbia in a crucial encounter that saw the Swiss army scoring a stunning 3-2 victory over the Serbs to qualify for the Round of 16.
Switzerland began dominating the first half right and began attacking from the first minute in as they became the first team in World Cup history to fire three shots in the opening minute of the match. Just seconds after the kickoff, Granit Xhaka fired twice at goal and the third attempt by Breel Embolo was denied by goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic.
Serbia did eventually try to fight back as Andrija Zivkovic had a powerful drive from outside the Swiss box that hit the goalpost. As Serbia kept dominating the play, it was Switzerland who eventually got the upper hand and got the opening goal in the 20th minute, scored by Xherdan Shaqiri, finding the net via a deflection.
Just a few minutes later, Aleksandar Mitrovic scored the equalizer for Serbia through a trademark header following a perfect cross by Tadic in the 26th minute. 9 minutes later, with the timer reading 35 minutes into the first half, Serbia doubled their lead after Dusan Vlahovic pushed the ball into the bottom corner of the goal after a mistake from Remo Freuler. A valiant fightback by Serbia to take the lead after the Swiss opener.
After taking an early lead, Switzerland suddenly saw themselves trailing behind after the back-to-back goals by Serbia. The team was taken aback by the sudden attack and lead taken by Serbia. But as the first half approached its end, Switzerland pulled out an unexpected equalizer in the 44th minute when Breel Embolo hit back with a brilliant shot into the Serbian goal in the final minute to bring the Swiss scoreline at par with Serbia. The first half eventually ended with both teams level at 2-2, with Serbia having dominated the majority of the first half.
After some thrilling back-and-forth action throughout the first half, Switzerland took early charge in the second half as they managed to score their decisive third goal following a wonderful cross-work put together by Embolo and Shaqiri, as the latter sent the ball to Vargas, who flicked the ball to Remo Freuler, who further thumped the ball in past Milinkovic-Savic. This was the 5th goal of the match and Freuler made up for the earlier mistake he made that allowed Vlahovic to score Serbia’s opening goal.
As the match proceeded towards the end, the game kept becoming more intense with Serbia desperately trying to fight back in and Switzerland doing great to defend their lead and not concede any further goals. The match was quite rough with 11 yellow cards being issued to players from both sides; Serbia (7) and Switzerland (4).
The referee blew the final whistle to call the end and Switzerland clinched the victory to qualify for the top 16 playoffs. The loss meant that Serbia have now failed to qualify for the knockouts stage for the fourth time since 2006.
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