Further World Cup reading
Read Sid Lowe’s report
What you want to do now is cast your ratings for the players, who’ll be checking in later to make sure you’ve been fair.
Full-time: Serbia 1-2 Switzerland
Switzerland have come from behind and taken all three points thanks to Shaqiri’s breakaway goal in the last minute! That didn’t look likely at half-time, when Serbia were leading 1-0 and manifestly superior. Xhaka struck a superb equaliser but Serbia were then denied a clear penalty for a foul on Mitrovic. Chances came and went at both ends. And then Shaqiri showed skill and composure to deliver a dramatic late twist. Serbia will have to beat Brazil in their last match to progress! Switzerland face Costa Rica knowing a draw will be enough for them.
90 min: There will be at least four more minutes. And after that, if the score hasn’t change, expect the ref to be surrounded by Serbians pointing out the significance of his non-award of a blatantly penalty when the score was 1-1.
Updated
90 min: Akanji cleared a Serbia corner with a fine header. Someone in midfield swept a pass quickly to Shaqiri, who began a clever ran from inside his own half. Tosic tries to catch him offside (momentarily forgetting the rules?) and then realises his mistake and began chasing Shaqiri in a panic. But Shaqiri is too fast and keeps ahead of him as he scurries 40 yards forward .... and then keeps his cool and slides the ball past the advancing keeper and into the net! That’s surely the winner! And Shaqiri doesn’t care about the booking he gets for removing his shirt in ecstasy!
GOAL! Serbia 1-2 Switzerland (Shaqiri 90)
What a break! hat a finish! What scenes!
Updated
89 min: Rodriguez with an outswinging corner for the Swiss. Mitrovic heads it clear without manhandling any opponents.
86 min: Radnjic hurtles down the left with all the vim of a man who has just entered the fray. He wins a corner. It’s curled into the area ... and the ref spots a foul this time. Freekick to Switzerland. A bewildered Mitrovic consults the ref again but is again ordered to scarper.
86 min: Rodriguez’s shot from the freekick deflects off the wall and out for a corner.
86 min: Shaqiri embarks on another strong, bustling run. Matic trips him, giving Switzerland a freekick about 23 yards out, a little to the left of the D. Danger here ...
84 min: Embolo leaps high to nod a cross down to Gavranovic. The striker is offside but the officials seem unaware of that so Stojkovic has to make a solid save.
83 min: Shaqiri shows laudable ambition but dreadful execution as he launches a 30-yard shot towards Poland.
82 min: Embolo rifles off a shot from 25 yards. It’s hard and true but straight at Stojkovic ... who almost does a Karius! But after an initial fumble he catches it on the second attempt.
Serbia substitution: Radonjic on, Milivojevic off. “I simply don’t understand how VAR works,” snorts John Rogers. In that case, John, it’s not working. “Apparently the VAR team keep an eye on everything going on on the pitch and bring the referee’s attention to anything he or she might’ve missed. Likewise the ref can ask to look again at any incident. So in that case how could that not have been a penalty just now for Serbia?” Well they don’t pretend to keep an eye on everything. But they are supposed to alert the ref to any flagrant abuses he’s missed. So yes, that should have been a penalty. It was a clear and obvious foul. I can only assume the non-award of the spotkick is down to human error. Which, of course, VAR was intended to eliminate.
76 min: Kolarvoc attack again. Kolarov threads a pass through to Ljajic in the Swiss box. He lets fly! But his rocket is grounded by a Swiss defender. Switzerland suddenly zoom down the other end, Shaqiri ducking and dodging his way into the area. But he’s crowded out before he can unleash a shot. This is hectic!
74 min: Switzerland have found a second wind! Suddenly they’ve got Serbia backpedaling. This is intriguingly poised. “My browser is apparently a Switzerland fan and spent a few minutes after the equaliser having a melt down and repeating the goal post again and again until I got bored and hit F5. God help me if they lose. Though maybe I’ll just have to use it as a reason to go home early...
Switzerland substitution: Embolo on, Dzemaili off. And Rodriguez is also off the pitch at the moment, getting blood cleaned off his face. His gesticulations suggest the injury was caused by someone’s flailing elbow.
70 min: It’s all Serbia now. Switzerland look like they’d take a point at this stage. That - according to my calculations on the fly - would leave them needing to beat Costa Rica by at least three goals to be sure of going through irrespective of the result of the Serbia-Brazil match. Serbia might have to beat Brazil.
68 min: Milkinkovic-Savic slips a cute ball through to Tadic on the left this time. He fires in a vicious low cross. It whizzes across the face of goal, agonisingly beyond the reach of two attackers. Switzerland exhale.
65 min: Tadic makes inroads down the right, then cuts on to his left and clips in a good cross. Mitrovic meets it but can’t get a proper contact on it because he is quite obviously being held down by not one but two defenders! He can’t believe the ref doesn’t award a penalty and demands an explanation in the forceful manner. All he gets his wag of the finger and a stern lecture about respecting authority. But it’s hard to respect authority when you’re on the end of decisions like that.
Updated
Serbia substitution: Ljajic on, Kostic off. “Peter Van [see half-time soliloquy] was absolutely right: Switzerland are useless within 20 yards of goal,” parps Peter McMurray. “Xhaka found a clever solution: shoot from 25 yards out.”
59 min: This is hot stuff now! The tempo has risen and there’s more oomph in the tackles. Switzerland smell blood and Serbia are eager to strike back. This could go either way.
Updated
57 min: Shaqiri shows tremendous persistence down the left ... and then shows wonderful imagination and technique, curling a shot from a difficult angle beyond the keeper from outside the box. It hits the angle of post and bar and goes wide!
GOAL! Serbia 1-1 Switzerland (Xhaka 53)
What a thunderous strike! A shot by Shaqiri was deflectd into the path of Xhaka, running on to the ball about 25 yards out, to the left. He smacks a superbly controlled shot into the bottom corner! Then he wheels away and jubilates with his tea-mates!
Updated
54 min: As Xhaka celebrated that goal, he made a gesture with his hands. I don’t know what it was or what it meant. It looked like a flapping bird. Such as an eagle like the one in the Albanian flag?
Updated
50 min: Shaqiri scurries forward, then floats a pass towards Gavranovic, who lays it back to Rodriguez. The full-back has a pop from 25 yards. Then hurries back to whence he came and hopes no one ever mentions his shot again.
48 min: Serbia aren’t going to give up this lead easily. They’ve spent the first few minutes of this half in tight ranks in their own half. Switzerland have the ball but are short if ideas.
46 min: Switzerland have made a change: Our man Seferovic has been replaced by Gavranovic. Will that give the Swiss the sharpness they lack? At the moment they’re a few blades short of an army knife.
“Your correspondent Shawn Williamson is completely right, I believe,” writes Peter Van. “Haris Seferovic is not a World Cup-level striker (maybe not even a Swiss League-level striker). Switzerland have a lot in common with other teams in this World Cup: Morocco, Costa Rica, Peru... I thought all of them were decent and well organized. They just lacked any bite in front - which is why they’re all eliminated already, scoreless. Switzerland have scored a goal - from a corner - but they seem to suffer from the same problems: well organized, hardworking, technically gifted, useless within 20 yards of the goal.”
Half-time: Serbia 1-0 Switzerland
Serbia are 45 minutes away from the last 16 for the first time in their independent history. Mitrovic gave them an early lead with a stonking header, and Serbia have had chances to score again. Switzerland had a couple, too, and have had a lot of possession without looking as dangerous as Serbia do when they attack. Mitrovic and Tadic have been terrific, especially the former, who is tormenting Schär.
45+2 min: Matic booked for clunking into Lichtsteiner near half-way. A bit harsh, that.
Updated
45+1 min: A knock-down from Mitrovic to Tadic, who swipes across the bouncing ball beautifully and sends his shot fizzing just over the bar from 20 yards.
44 min: Tadic pings over a beauatful corner. Tosic has a free header from five yards! And he completely misses the ball! Matic is too shocked to be able to react quickly enough to turn it into the net, stabbing it wide beyond the back post.
43 min: That’s more like it! Serbia take the fight to the other end. Tadic fires over a testing cross, the Matic does likewise from the left. No Serb managed to get on the end of either one but they made for hairy moments for the Swiss, all the same.
42 min: Swtizerland are forcing Serbia back. The men in red have defended well so far, but it’d be a good idea to try to move the play upfield a tad.
40 min: Yellow card for Milivojevic for hacking down Shaqiri about 35 yards out.
38 min: After more sterile Swiss possession, Shaqiri tries to inject a bit of ingenuity. Mitrovic looks at his little shuffle at the edge of the area and then bowls him over, and the ball trickles out of play.
37 min: Kolarov stands over a Serbian freekick to the left of the Swiss box. He dinks it towards the near post. It’s cleared. But Tadic collects it just outside the box and has a bang. Sommer saves.
34 min: Xhaka curls a nice pass wide to Shaqiri on the left. Shaqiri pings it into the danger zone. But Stojkovic clasps it from the air.
Updated
32 min: Another good Swiss move! Shaqiri slides a clever pass through to Dzemaili, who has as clear sight of goal from 16 yards. But he takes a bizarre decision, attempting a high cross through several defenders to a player running in at the far side of the box. It’s cut out. Why didn’t he just shoot!?
30 min: Nice play by Switzerland. A fast, intricate from back to front ends with Dzemaili running on to a bouncing through ball from Zuber and tryign to dab it into the net. But Stojkovic parries it. All Switzerland get is a corner.
28 min: There’s a break in play as Milivojevic receives treatment for a knock.
26 min: From a Swiss corner Skanji beats Mitrovic to a header but the striker put on enough pressure to stop Akanji from steering his header on to the target. “The BBC got it completely wrong,” hollers Blaise Baquiche. “Kaliningrad is a Russian exclave not a bloody enclave! Honestly!”
23 min: Demonstrating my point of a moment ago, Akanji puts in a crunching tackle on Mitrovic near half-way as Serbia tried to mount a counter-attack. Just before that Shaqiri tried to get off a shot from the edge of the Serbia box but it was charged down.
21 min: Schär can’t handle Mitrovic at all. The striker is just too strong for him. Problem is. Mitrovic is practically marking him, making it difficult for the other centreback, the more powerful Akanji, to help Schar out.
19 min: Ivanovic with a deep cross from the right. Mitrovic peels away from Schär and takes the ball on his chest ... and then essays an overhead kick. It’s a cracking effort but sails over by about two yards.
Updated
17 min: “Booooooooooooooooo”. Yes, Switzerland have the ball. “Yaaaaaaaaaaay!” They just lost it, without getting anywhere near the Serbia box.
Updated
15 min: Kostic wins the ball in midfielder and races down the left and into the box before throwing in a little shimmy that sends Behrami hurtling off in the wrong direction. But his ensuing cross is cleared.
14 min: Another cross from the right - this time from Ivanovic - reaches Mitrovic, whose dander is really up. So much so that he tries to nut the ball into the net from about 17 yards. Instead he bops it over the bar.
12 min: Switzerland are struggling to piece together movements, largely because of Serbia’s relentless pressing. The Serbian fans are loving it. “Will Switzerland ever escape the stigma of that Ukraine game?” asks David Hopkins before answering his own question. “I’d say not. A remake of The Third Man would need to replace ‘cuckoo clock’ with ‘that 0-0 against Ukraine’.”
10 min: Rodriguez chases a long crossfield pass into the corner and then shunts Ivanovic aside with remarkable ease near the left-hand corner flag. He then looks up and picks out Dzemaili, who’s racing into the area and tries to shoot first time into the net from less than 10 yards. But he doesn’t get a clean connection, skewing the ball several yards wide.
8 min: Lichtsteiner takes a throw-in deep in Serbian territory, chucking it short to Shaqiri. The Stoke (for now) man twists and turns and tries to deliver a cross from the right but it’s deflected behind for a corner.
GOAL! Serbia 1-0 Switzerland (Mitrovic 5)
Matic wins possession near the Swiss area and feeds Tadic, who chops back on to his left foot and flights a cross into the centre. Mitrovic again beats - nay, beasts - Schär in the air. And he nuts a powerful header into the net from eight yards!
Updated
5 min: Savic curls in a cross from the right. Mitrovic jumps above Schär and gets a meaty header to it from seven yards. Sommer dives low to push it away.
4 min: Every Swiss touch is accompanied by bilious whistles: it sounds like most of the crowd are Serbian. Xhaka tries to shut them up by blasting one into the net from long range. But it flies over the bar, and the whistles turn to jeers.
2 min: Freekick to Serbia mid-way inside the Swiss half. Kolarov curls it to the right-hand side of the box. Ivanovic sends a header back across goal, and Behrami does well to prevent Mitrovic from collecting it.
1 min: Three, two, one ... we have kickoff! Switzerland - dressed all in white - do the honours and immediately hoof the ball into the territory of Serbia, who are clad all in red.
A rousing rendition of the Serbian anthem by all their players, staff and fans. The Swiss one enjoys less enthusiastic backing, with only a few of their players lending their voices to it and a handful of spectators whistling. And the Swiss looked nervous as the camera panned along the line.
The teams are in the tunnel. Smiles and pats on the back are exchanged by several players. It’s all quite convivial, for now. “Is Adem Ljiajic out due to his refusal to sing his anthem?” wonders Giuseppe Cais, referring to an incident in 2012 when the midfielder was dropped by Serbia for not singing the anthem. There’s no indication whatsoever that that’s the case this time. “I’m sorry he’s missing such a peculiar balkanic derby...” concludes Giuseppe.
“A question for you,” begins Shaun Wilkinson. “Would Switzerland be proper, serious contenders to go very deep into this tournament if they had a better striker than Seferovic? They have good players all over and are always organised, but when it comes to reliability in front of goal at major tournaments, Seferovic makes Emile Heskey look like Miroslav Klose.” Well, obviously Switzerland would have a better chance of going farther if they had a better striker but they’d still be short of the midfield creativity needed to be world champions. There’d still be several better teams than them even if we haven’t seen a truly outstanding one yet. As it happens, I don’t think they’ll even get out of this group - and if this match isn’t a draw, it’ll be a Serbian victory.
Updated
It’s worth noting – not because it will affect today’s match, just because it’s interesting – that 80 years ago Switzerland also opened their World Cup by drawing 1-1 and things turned out OK for them back then insofar as they reached the next stage. The 1-1 was against Germany and, owing to the format at the time, the match went to a replay in Paris, where, with world war looming, locals amused themselves by chucking bottles at German players throughout the game. And when we say ‘German players’, we of course mean German and Austrian: the Anschluss forced Austria to withdraw and spelt the end of their famous Wunderteam but Germany’s manager, Sepp Herberger, was ordered to include a few Austrians in his squad to assert the oneness of Germany and Austria. That, apparently, created tensons in the squad and, according to Herberger, contributed to Switzerland’s 4-2 victory in the replay. Times are different now, of course.
Which is not to say political strife is not part of the context of this game: three of Switzerland’s starters here – Behrami, Shaqiri and Xhaka - have roots in Kosovo, a country that the Serbian government does not recognise. Here’s more on that from Nick Ames.
Updated
“I think you’re right,” announces John Williams. We could leave it there but John has more. “Not only do I think this could be 0-0, I think it has potential to be the most boring game of all time.” That’s the spirit, John! Mind you, Switzerland do have form: try as we might, we will never be able to forget that harrowing 0-0 with Ukraine back in 2006. And, regrettably, mention must also be made here of Republic of Ireland 0-0 Norway from 1994. And Republic of Ireland 0-0 Egypt from 1990. Aye, the World Cup is poorer with us Irish. (Serbia and Switzerland, by the way, were part of the reason why there is no Irish at this tournament: Serbia topped the qualification group in which the Republic finished second, while Switzerland fluked their way past Northern Ireland thanks to a scandalous penalty decision). For what it’s worth, I’m choosing optimism and, while I do think Serbia and Switzerland will draw here, I’m going for a riotous 2-2.
Serbia make one change from their first match, replacing the Torino midfielder Adem Ljajic with Hamburg’s Filip Kostic. The good news for Switzerland is that Valon Behrami has recovered from the slight injury he suffered while putting the clamp on Neymar in his team’s opening game, so the Swiss start with the same side that began against Brazil.
Teams:
Serbia: Stojkovic; Ivanovic, Milenkovic, Tosic, Kolarov; Matic, Milivojevic; Tadic, Milinkovic-Savic, Kostic; Mitrovic
Subs: Rukavina, Spajic, Zivkovic, Prijovic, Rajkovic, Veljkovic, Rodic, Grujic, Ljajic, Radonjic, Jovic Dmitrovic
Switzerland: Sommer; Lichtsteiner, Schär, Akanji, Rodriguez; Haka, Behrami; Shaqiri, Dzemaili, Zuber; Seferovic
Subs: Moubandje, Elvedi, Lang, Embolo, Freuler, Mvogo, Fernandes, Gavranovic, Drmic, Djourou, Bürki
Referee: F Brych (Ger)
Preamble
Hello and welcome and all that. Here are the facts: Serbia beat Costa Rica in their opening match so can confirm their progress to the last 16 for the first time as an independent nation by downing Switzerland here. Switzerland have one point on the board thanks to their draw with Brazil in their first match so a win here could hoist them to the top of the group (depending on the score) and force Serbia to have to beat Brazil to advance. A draw would leave Switzerland needing to win against Costa Rica in their last game and make that Serbia-Brazil clash even juicier. So let’s hope for a 0-0 here to really raise the stakes for the last round of matches in Group E!
No, hold on, let’s leave that as an acceptable fallback option. What we could really do with today is a bona fide humdinger to send us into the weekend with a smile on our faces. There’s a fair chance our wish will be granted, too. Because Serbia are a nifty outfit who can attack with real flair and thrust on their day. The Swiss also have some quality and have vowed to demonstrate more of their offensive prowess than they showed against Brazil, when the emphasis was on solidity (as personified by Manuel Akanji, who was superb in central defence) and bracing challenges. This could get feisty. Let’s be having you!
Updated
