Just Four Things: Sweden Vs. Switzerland

Wasted Chances

Somehow, the first half didn’t end with neither side scoring. Sweden had a number of decent chances to take an early lead. But Marcus Berg lashed a chance horribly wide, Albin Ekdal failed to keep his shot down and Berg again with a low half-volley that was saved by the fingertips of Yann Sommer. Sweden can breathe easily that those missed opportunities didn’t matter in the end.

Switzerland on the other hand also had a few chances. But Blerim Dzemaili was guilty of wasting the most decisive chance for Switzrland when he collected Steven Zuber’s pass on the left side of the box. With so much space around him, he somehow put too much height in his effort. It turns out that their missed chance proved to be costly. Because they never had another clear chance like that since then in this match despite lurking around Sweden’s final third in the second half.

Forsberg Ahead!

Here’s another stat for you courtesy of Squawka Football: Emil Forsberg’s goal was his 14th shot in this World Cup. No other player had more efforts without scoring. So you can imagine his relief that his efforts have finally yielded a goal. Granted, it came from lucky circumstances.

Forsberg’s was persistent with the ball, but sadly haven’t done much with it. But he was the one that provided the decisive moment. Creating space for himself to shoot from Ola Toivonen’s pass, his low shot was deflected into the net thanks to Manuel Akanji. If Akanji had got out of the way, Yann Sommer would’ve easily caught it. Forsberg was the focal point of Sweden’s offence after being a talisman for Red Bull Leipzig since Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s international retirement. He may have provided the winning goal. But he and along a few others need to step up as it gets harder from here.

Some Breel Pace

It’s strange that despite the effort both teams have put in, they lack the pace and intensity going forward. Xherdan Shaqiri couldn’t replicate his stellar performance against Serbia and the midfield duo of Valon Behrami & Granit Xhaka didn’t look threatening at all. Making no headway after Sweden’s fortunate goal, Vladimir Petkovic decided to make a double change. One of them was bringing on Schalke forward Breel Embolo for Steven Zuber.

Almost immediately, he showed the impact Petkovic wanted. Embolo got into it using his wuick feet to create chaos in Sweden’s box. His runs, mostly down on the left, gave Switzerland some much needed intensity but they couldn’t benefit anything from it. Sweden in the end committed more numbers in the box sensing not only danger from Embolo, but looking to run down the clock. Makes you wonder what would’ve happened if Embolo had started.

Auld Lang Syne

Switzerland ended their World Cup campaign on a sour taste in their mouths. With Sweden winning the ball back from a Switzerland corner in the final minute of stoppage time, they had one more attack by launching the counter. Martin Olsson collected the through ball and has so much freedom going forward. A one-on-one battle was going to be inevitable.

Before he could pull the trigger, Michael Lang fouled him and Olsson lost his balance. That left referee Damir Skomina no choice but to show a straight red to the Basel defender. Although, VAR reversed the decision that it was initially a penalty to a free-kick that would’ve rubbed more salt in Switzerland’s wounds. A bitter end for Lang and Switzerland

Also, come and sign up for the Tiki-Taka Fiesta Fifa 18 Tournament! Show off your skills as you go up against the best of the best.

Details are as below:

Place : Sungei Wang Plaza

Date : July 7, 2018 (Saturday)

Time : 10:00AM

Cash prizes to be won!

How to register? Just click on the image below!