Stubborn Swiss hold underwhelming Seleçao in Rostov

The only previous game between the two sides at the World Cup also ended in a draw, with the two sides playing out an entertaining 2-2 stalemate back in 1950, and history repeated itself after Steven Zuber's second-half header cancelled out Philippe Coutinho's stunning opener.

The Swiss actually came out of the blocks quicker, with Blerim Dzemaili unable to guide an early effort on target after being found by Xherdan Shaqiri.

Naturally though, they were unable to pin the 'Seleçao' back for too long and the Samba stars should have opened the scoring with 11 minutes on the clock, only for Paulinho to somehow fail to convert from eight yards after Fabian Schar was unable cut out Neymar's low cross.

With all eyes on Neymar, who was making his first competitive start since February, coutinho took the opportunity to issue a reminder of his ability as he curled home one of the goals of the tournament so far from 20 yards with just 20 minutes gone.

Nevertheless, Switzerland reacted well to going behind, despite there being few clear-cut chances of note in what remained of the first half.

Thiago Silva could and perhaps should have doubled Brazil's lead on the stroke of the break, but he could only flick a header narrowly over the crossbar after meeting Neymar's whipped corner from the left.

- Swiss fightback - 

A quick look at the stats during the break showed that Switzerland had been by no means outclassed by Brazil, though there was the feeling that Tite's men had another couple of gears they were yet to find.

Just five minutes after the restart, Brazil were made to pay for failing to kick on when they were on top as Zuber evaded the attentions of Miranda to head home Shaqiri's inch-perfect corner from the right.

The yellow shirts surrounded the referee insistent that the Swiss had pushed his marker as the ball came in but the goal stood, leaving the large contingent of Brazilian fans gobsmacked.

- Brazilian pressure - 

Brazil were knocked sideways for 10 minutes or so in the wake of that goal, no doubt with the memories of their last World Cup game (the now infamous 7-1 thrashing at the hands of Germany) still ringing fresh in their minds.

However, they eventually refound their composure and went about throwing everything at Petkovic's men in the final 25 minutes.

Coutinho volleyed narrowly wide after being well found by Neymar, whose creative influence was limited by the close and often illegal attention of the Switzerland players.

With 73 minutes gone, the Brazilians once again found themselves pleading for VAR to be used when a flowing move ended with substitute Renato Augusto sliding in Gabriel Jesus, who went to ground as he attempted to roll Manuel Akanji. The appeals were in vain though as the referee waved play on, with Jesus' theatrical fall hardly doing him any favours.

Despite Neymar being a magnet for fouls throughout, he did find enough space to have two efforts late on, first shooting straight at Yann Sommer after cutting in from the left, before ghosting in between two Swiss defenders to meet Danilo's inviting cross from the right, only to head straight into the arms of the grateful goalkeeper.

Despite the lack of cutting edge up front, Tite opted to wait until the 80-minute mark to introduce Roberto Firmino and he almost proved the matchwinner as he saw a free header from a Neymar free-kick parried to safety by Sommer.

For all the good goalkeeping and stout defending, there were also elements of luck in seeing Switzerland survive the onslaught, with Miranda seeing a volley in the aftermatch of a corner drop inches wide with Sommer rooted and Schar making a monumental block almost on his own goal line in the sixth minute of added time.

In the end though, the Swiss did indeed hold on for a point, meaning Serbia end the first round of fixtures as top dogs in Group E following their win over Costa Rica earlier in the day. Switzerland will face the group leaders on Friday evening, with Brazil to take on Costa Rica earlier the same day.

 

June 17, 2018