Switzerland came back from trailing to an early goal to collect all three points against Serbia from their 2018 FIFA World Cup Group E match played at the Kaliningrad Stadium in Kaliningrad.
Photo courtesy of www.fifa.com
The Serbs had a dream start when striker, Alekxandar Mitrović headed home a cross from Dušan Tadić in the fifth minute. The Newcastle United player had an earlier effort saved by Swiss goalkeeper, Yann Sommer.
Just before halftime, his opposite number, Vladimir Stojković denied Switzerland the equaliser when he managed to push away a Blerim Džemaili effort which was on target.
However, Switzerland only needed seven minutes into the second half to pull level when Granit Xhaka hit a first timer from outside the penalty box after the initial shot by Xherdan Shaqiri was blocked.
Then just around the hour mark, Shaqiri saw his effort hit the Serbs’ crossbar as Valdimir Petković’s boys grew in confidence.
Both teams were going for the winner but it was The Swiss who managed to get it when from a quick break in the last minute of regulation time.
Shaqiri latched onto a pass by Xhaka before holding off the challenge from Duško Tošić before slotting the ball past Stojković to seal all three points for Switzerland which moved to second place with the place in the knockout phase seemed almost certain.
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