After 120 scoreless minutes and a tense penalty shootout, Switzerland became the final team to advance to the quarterfinals at the 2026 FIFA World Cup as it outlasted Colombia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
BC Place Vancouver was a sea of yellow as it was firmly behind Colombia, and the large crowd watched both teams play fantastically defensively on Tuesday afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Both Colombia and Switzerland came into this tournament with one knockout win in their respective histories. Colombia’s win came in 2014 against Uruguay, while Switzerland\u2019s came over Germany in 1938. After wins in the round of 32, both teams had the chance to make this the undisputed best World Cup in their country\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
In the end, that went to Switzerland, which has been on a steady rise over the past decade and will now get to face reigning champions Argentina in the quarterfinals. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Here are my four takeaways from Tuesday’s match:<\/p>\n
Tuesday’s match was relatively gritty, as neither side scored over 120 minutes of play. (Photo by Christopher Morris\/ISI Photos\/ISI Photos via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n Both Colombia and Switzerland were playing well heading into this game, with each team winning its respective group (both teams were 2-1-0 in group play) followed by impressive victories in the round of 32. The heart of success for each team had been its defensive discipline and shape.\u00a0<\/p>\n Combined with the high amount of respect the teams had for each other, it made for a very cagey start with each team quick to revert into defensive shape whenever possession was lost. The game needed an individual moment of brilliance, but neither team seemed willing to take the risk of committing many players into the attack. Colombia\u2019s Gustavo Puerta had the first real chance of the game in the 21st minute when he forced a big save from Gregor Kobel.<\/p>\n The game began to open slightly after the first half hydration break. Colombia\u2019s Camilo Vargas was forced to make a pair of saves from Swiss wingers Dan Ndoye and Fabian Rieder just after the half-hour mark.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the second half, Colombia began to push a little further up, and head coach N\u00e9stor Lorenzo made offensive substitutes in the 66th and 83rd minutes. Switzerland had slightly more space to operate but was unable to create in the first 90 minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n As is the case with low-scoring games, it is not just about defense. There was also a failure for players to step up and make the big play that no one saw coming. Switzerland clearly missed Johan Manzambi, who suffered a knee injury in the team\u2019s final training session. The 20-year-old versatile Freiburg attacker has been Switzerland\u2019s best player over the past three games with three goals and two assists.\u00a0<\/p>\n The game finished 120 minutes with just three shots on goal for Colombia and two for Switzerland.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is hardly the first time that a World Cup match was very defensive, but what made this game very different is that there were just very few mistakes by either team. Teams completed passes inside their own half to avoid gifting the opponents golden chances. There were not many teams that gave dangerous set pieces; defensive clearances were effective in getting the ball from danger.\u00a0<\/p>\n Credit for this is due to the exceptional play of the central defenders for both teams. Switzerland\u2019s Manuel Akanji and Nico Elvedi, along with Colombia\u2019s Davinson S\u00e1nchez and Jhon Lucum\u00ed, were all excellent and handled everything that came their way. Lucum\u00ed nearly broke the deadlock in extra time when his header rattled the crossbar in the closest opportunity of the game. Meanwhile, the Swiss backline was able to neutralize Luis D\u00edaz, who is one of the best wingers in the world.<\/p>\n Oddly enough, the worst miss in the game came in the 115th minute when the game\u2019s most experienced and dependable midfielder Swiss captain Granit Xhaka, flubbed a clearance and gifted Jaminton Campaz a golden chance, which was then shot over the bar.\u00a0<\/p>\n When the game went to penalties, it was completely up for grabs, but Switzerland converted four of five attempts with confidence. The only Swiss player who missed was Manuel Akanji, who had a great game in central defense. This time, his Swiss teammates were able to bail him out after he missed a shootout attempt in a loss to England in the knockout stage at UEFA Euro 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n Throughout extra time, it seemed as if Switzerland was the team that was more comfortable with the game going to a shootout. That was a bold strategy, and it paid off as Granit Xhaka, Zeki Amdouni, Cedric Itten and Rub\u00e9n Vargas all looked strong with their attempts.\u00a0<\/p>\n Murat Yakin has helped Switzerland reach new heights in his time as its head coach (Photo by Jared C. Tilton – FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY After 120 scoreless minutes and a tense penalty shootout, Switzerland became the final team to advance to the quarterfinals at the 2026 FIFA World Cup as it outlasted Colombia.\u00a0 BC Place Vancouver was a sea of yellow as it was firmly behind Colombia, and the large crowd watched both teams play […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}