Remo Freuler‘s brilliant goal early in the second half sent the Swiss through to the knockout rounds for the fourth time in five World Cups.
Switzerland reserved a last- 16 showdown with Portugal at the World Cup on Friday after a 3- 2 palm over Serbia in a bad- tempered match secured them alternate place in GroupG. Xherdan Shaqiri’s veered strike put the Swiss ahead but Aleksandar Mitrovic’s fine title brought Serbia position at Stadium 974. Dusan Vlahovic also gave Serbia the lead only for Breel Embolo to equalise before half- time.
Remo Freuler’s brilliant thing beforehand in the alternate half transferred the Swiss through to the knockout rounds for the fourth time in five World Mugs.
Bad blood marred the meeting between the brigades at the 2018 event, when Granit Xhaka and Shaqiri celebrated pretensions by making pro-Kosovo gestures that maddened the Serbs. Tempers burned in the alternate half on Friday after Serbia appealed for a penalty, with the colosseum host calling for an end to” all discriminative chants and gestures” around 15 twinkles latterly.
Switzerland, who had their fortune in their own hands, nearly struck inside 30 seconds but Embolo’s attempt was well blocked by Vanja Milinkovic- Savic, who palmed off down the follow- up from Xhaka.
Serbia’s Andrija Zivkovic rattled the post from distance with a sweet curling trouble and Vlahovic whisked the answer straight into goalkeeper Gregor Kobel‘s arms.
Shaqiri missed Switzerland’s 1- 0 loss to Brazil but returned with a bang as he fired his side in front on 20 twinkles.
Ricardo Rodriguez spiked a cross into the box which was cleared straight to Djibril Sow, who laid off for Shaqiri to sweep home via the leg of Strahinja Pavlovic in front of the Serbia suckers. This time there was no double eagle gesture. rather, Shaqiri put his cutlet to his lips and refocused to the name on his shirt as a sprinkle of bottles rained down.
Serbia hit back within twinkles as Switzerland lost the ball in midfield, Dusan Tadic bending in a cross for Mitrovic to meet superbly and nod into the far corner.
Shaqiri steered wide under pressure from Pavlovic after timing his run impeccably to meet Rodriguez’s combing slant pass, but the Swiss also paid for another lapse in attention. They again ceded possession and Freuler watched on in dismay as his tried interception served only to tee up Vlahovic to roll the ball beyond Kobel.
But Switzerland equalised a nanosecond before the break as Sow picked out Silvan Widmer in acres of space on the right and his driven low cross was turned in by Embolo.
The Cameroon- born striker’s pressure on a lumbering Pavlovic gave Switzerland their third thing right after half- time, a brilliant platoon trouble finished by Freuler. Shaqiri cropped in a delicate ball after Embolo won it back grandly over, and Ruben Vargas’s gentled backheel left Freuler to guide in from around the penalty spot.
Serbia appealed in vain for a penalty when Mitrovic theatrically fell to the ground, sparking an unattractive flashpoint that led to reserve Serbia goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic being reserved.
Substitute Christian Fassnacht passed a late chance to ease Swiss jitters when clean through on thing. An indecorous wrangle between Xhaka and Nikola Milenkovic hovered to boil over, but in the end the Swiss got over the line to set up a date with Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal. Read More FIFA News…
