Switzerland Tops Group B with Nervy Canada Win
- Timothy Belin
- Jun 24
- 4 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
Credit Sky Sports
NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com
Switzerland went top of Group B with a Round 3 win over second-place Canada.
The European side put themselves in pole position with a quick start to the second half, but intense Canadian pressure to close out the game led to a stressful final 20 minutes.
Both teams came into the game with their knockout places all-but-secure. On four points each, they were both nearly guaranteed a spot as one of the best third-place teams and knew that a draw would have them finishing first and second. As a result, both sides rotated a fair amount coming into the encounter.
For Switzerland, that meant starts for Joahn Manzambi and Ruben Vargas, the architects of their late triumph over Bosnia and Herzegovina just under a week ago. Breel Embolo retained his place as the team’s starting striker, and it was his combination with the ever-present Ricardo Rodriguez that nearly opened the scoring early on.
The left-back threaded a perfect ball through to his forward in the 11th minute, but Maxime Crepeau made himself big in the Canadian goal to keep out the one-on-one. Manzambi was first to the rebound, but Canada’s Derek Cornelius did well to get in the way of the shot.
Two minutes later, it was Canada’s turn to be thwarted in a one-on-one. Cyle Larin picked up the ball behind the Swiss defense, and though he tried to round the goalkeeper, Gregor Kobel did just enough to get a hand on the ball and force the forward wide. The play was then pulled back regardless as Larin had started in an offside position.
The rest of the half continued a fairly even back-and-forth, with neither side getting clear-cut chances to take the lead. Embolo was dangerous a few more times for a Swiss team that had a slight upper hand on their hosts, but Ali Ahmed’s 41st-minute strike for Canada was probably the biggest chance from the rest of the half.
The forward found himself wide open on the edge of the box after a pass from the right evaded a number of bodies, but Kobel did well to save low to his left and maintain the 0-0 going into the break.
Last week, Switzerland came out fired up after the second-half hydration break. This time, it was straight after the second period restarted.
Just 45 seconds into the second half, the visitors had the lead.
Right back Luca Jaquez, making his first start of the tournament, found Manzambi down the right flank with a good through ball. The youngster sent in a dangerous cross to Embolo, but rather than try and get to it, the striker let it go past him while dragging his defender away from the ball in the process. As a result, the ball fell to a wide-open Vargas at the back post, who took one touch before smashing it in off the upright.
Barely 10 minutes later, Manzambi, Embolo and Jaquez combined for a second.
The right-back sent a ball over the top of the Canadian defence for Embolo to run onto. The striker showed his customary strength to hold it up, and with three Canadians around him laid it off for the streaking Manzambi. The SC Freiburg talent ran onto the ball and hit it first-time under Creapeau for the 2-0, already a third goal at the tournament for the 20-year old.
Jesse Marsch made a triple change for Canada in the wake of the second goal, and the momentum soon shifted.
Canada started to truly assert pressure around the 65th-minute mark, and Nico Elvedi notably made a crucial sliding block on Jonathan David in the six-yard box to keep the Swiss clean sheet in the 67th. But even a hydration break called in the midst of the Canadian’s dominance could not halt the tournament co-hosts’ momentum, and Promise David pulled one back shortly after the restart.
In the 76th minute, Tajon Buchanan showed great skill to take a ball out of the air with one touch before sending in a cross with his second. Promise pounced onto the mid-air ball to halve the deficit.
With the wind in their sails, Canada looked to turn the screw.
Thanks to their 6-0 demolition of Qatar in the previous round of games, they knew that a draw would be enough for them to clinch top spot and get a more favorable Round of 32 opponent. As such, the team threw more and more bodies forward in search of that elusive second goal.
In the 79th minute, Cornelius got to a wide free-kick first, but glanced his header just wide of the post. Another free-kick in stoppage time missed everyone in the box but nearly nestled in the side netting as a result.
Kobel then made three crucial saves deep into stoppage time to see the game through. The first two came off headers, one from Promise off a long throw and the second from Alistair Johnson following an open-play cross. The final one saw the Swiss shotstopper throw himself onto a loose ball and get whacked by Cornelius for his troubles.
It was however enough to secure the 2-1 win and send Switzerland top of Group B.
The Swiss will now face one of the best third-place teams on July 2nd in Vancouver, while Canada will kick off the Round of 32 games by facing the second-place team from Group A on June 28 in Los Angeles.
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