FIFA World Cup 2022: Serbia vs Switzerland: Swiss prevail 3-2 over Serbia, qualify for knockouts

An enthralling match at the Doha Stadium saw Switzerland edge past Serbia to win 3-2 on Friday. With the win, the Swiss have qualified for the knockout stages.

It was a see-saw battle that saw the pendulum swinging in both ways, but it was Granit Xhaka and co. who held on after taking the lead in the second half.

As it happened:

It was a breathtaking first half at the Doha Stadium.

Switzerland took the lead in the 20th minute as their talisman Xherdan Shaqiri scored. He smashed home a ball from Djibril Sow to give the Swiss a massive lead. But Aleksandar Mitrovic responded for the Serbians within six minutes of that. The Fulham striker powered in a header to restore parity. The Serbians went on to take the lead ten minutes from the break as Dusan Vlahovic scored his first World Cup goal. Dusan Tadic pounced on the ball as Shaqiri gave it away, and slipped it to Vlahovic who fired across the goal to turn things around. But their joy was short-lived as Breel Embolo equalized for Switzerland a minute from half time. The teams headed to the break 2-2.

Switzerland started fast after the break and restored the lead in the 48th minute. Remo Freuler finished expertly to give the Swiss a crucial lead. The play leading to the goal was exquisite and Ruben Vargas set Freuler up to get the nod ahead in the match. There was confusion regarding a potential handball but Switzerland escaped as VAR didn't intervene, much to the disgust of the Serbian bench as the substitutes came into the pitch to protest the decision.

Dusan Tadic missed a big opportunity to level the scoreline as Serbia failed to replicate their first-half heroics. In the end, it was Switzerland who held on and secured a 3-2 victory.

Aftermath:

Switzerland are through to the round of 16 and will meet Portugal in the knockouts. Serbia were regarded as the dark horses by many pundits, but their World Cup journey ends here.

Serbia vs Switzerland Lineup:

Serbia: Milinkovic-Savic; Milenkovic, Veljkovic (Gudelj), Pavlovic; Zivkovic (Radonjic), Milinkovic-Savic (Maksimovic), Lukic, Kostic; Tadic (Djuricic); Vlahovic (Jovic), Mitrovic

Switzerland: Kobel; Widmer, Schar, Akanji, Rodriguez; Freuler, Xhaka; Shaqiri (Zakaria), Sow (Fernandes), Vargas (Fassnacht); Embolo (Okafor)