Fifa World Cup 2018: Resilient Switzerland frustrate Brazil in 1-1 draw

Tonight's draw is a cracking result for Switzerland and will give them a huge confidence boost as they try to qualify for the knockout stages whereas Brazil needs to sort out its defence

 

Brazil failed to take home three match points as they settle for a draw from a bruising encounter with Switzerland. In a night not so great for the footballing giants, the Alps nation showed nerves of steel and succeeded in stopping a star-studded side to a 1-1 draw. The credits of the night should go to Petkovic’s men, as they managed to come back from a goal deficit to secure a well-deserved match point.

The Group E encounter was scattered with a host of physical challenges as Switzerland displayed some gritty defending against the 5-time World Champions. Neymar alone was fouled 10 times (the highest number of fouls against a player in World Cup since 1998) with veteran midfielder Behrami ona charge of bottling the PSG star.

Trivia: The last player to be fouled more in a WorldCup game than Neymar v Switzerland (10) was Alan Shearer in 1998 (11 v Tunisia).

The first half of Brazil vs Switzerland match was a game that moved from box-to-box. The alpine nation’s defence was giving a hard time to the star studded Brazil squad. Although both the sides had equal ball possession the Latin Americans seemed to have the better of the Swiss side, as Neymar & Co managed to dominate the flow with Petkovic’s men looking for counter-attacking chances.

Coutinho opened the deadlock on the 20th minute with his sensational goal. After collecting possession from a rebound, the former Liverpool man opened up his body and curled the ball into the far corner of the Switzerland goal. Sommer had no chance to save the ball from going into the net off the side post. The breathtaking strike lit up the newly built Rostov Arena and seemed it was Brazil’s day after all!

Unsurprisingly, a determined Switzerland came back in the second half under the leadership of the new Arsenal man Lichtsteiner, who made the Brazillian attack toothless.

The attacking trio of Neymar, Jesus and Coutinho struggled a lot to get it past the attacking third. Switzerland was making in ways to the Brazil defence with counter-attacks. One such counter-attacks resulted into a corner and an unmarked Steven Zuber scored from the corner at 49 minute

Brazil's no. 3 Miranda left the Swiss Winger unmarked who put the ball into the back of the net. The Brazilian players alleged that their was a push by Zuber but the referee righteously played down their allegations.

The Latin American defence fell like a house of cards as they conceded the 11th goal Brazil in their last three World Cup matches. It's a record that won't improve with the kind of sloppy marking that allowed Steven Zuber to sneak in unmarked for that simple headed finish.

Tite's men had enough opportunities towards the end of the game. A fine downward header was parried clear by Sommer as Brazil frantically chased a late winner. The Swiss defence and the Switzerland goalkeeper made sure that the score stays level as they staged for another upset at Rostov Arena.

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FIFA World Cup 2018: Why prosperous nations are more likely to play and win

The more a country and its society give liberty to its people to make choices for their lives, the more likely it is to be a World Cup winner

 

More than a seventh of humanity watched the 2014 final, where Germany became the champions with a lone goal in the extra time. Unarguably, this makes the 2018 World Cup the most to-be-watched sport tournament, and a question that becomes central to discussion in the office, over tea or lunch, and at parties, is this: Who will win this time?

Juxtaposing the general development and economic progress of a country with its perceived chances of winning reveals that the probable semi-finalist teams would be the countries with better social and economic indicators. The world’s top betting players such as Ladbrokes, WilliamHill and 888sport have almost unanimously put Germany, Brazil, France, Spain and Argentina as top five, while Tunisia, Iran, Panama, South Korea and Saudi Arabia as the bottom five.

Income, represented by gross national income per capita; health, represented by life expectancy at birth; and freedom to make one’s choices, represented by an index published in the World Happiness Report are the development indicators used. Though the oil-rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia has the highest per capita income among the 10, the top-five probables have better incomes (see Chart 1) than the least popular teams. It also turns out that the healthier the country, the better is its chance of winning (see Chart 2).

The more a country and its society give liberty to its people to make choices for their lives, the more likely it is to be a World Cup winner. It must be noted that all these are correlations and not causal relations.

Interestingly, only two of the 32 teams that are playing the finals are low human development countries, while a majority, 18, are highly developed (see Chart 4). The top-five probable winners are richer and developed than the average of the tournament’s 32 nations, which, in turn, are more prosperous than the global average. India, however, has a long way to go (see Charts 5).

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Virat Kohli 83rd in highest-paid athletes list, no women in top 100: Forbes

The 'World's Highest-Paid Athletes 2018' list is topped by 41-year-old Mayweather, with $285 million earnings

India cricket captain Virat Kohli is among the world's highest-paid athletes, according to a Forbes' compilation topped by American boxing champion Floyd Mayweather.

Kohli, the only sportsperson from India to be featured in the list, is ranked 83rd with earnings of $24 million.

Surprisingly, the 'World's Highest-Paid Athletes 2018' compilation is an all-male affair with no women being featured in the list.

Kohli, 29, is not just cricket-crazy India's biggest name but is also one of the most popular athletes in the world, "boasting more Twitter followers (25 million-plus) than all but three active sports stars", Forbes said.

The 'World's Highest-Paid Athletes 2018' list is topped by 41-year-old Mayweather, with $285 million earnings.

This year the Indian national cricket board 'The Board of Control for Cricket in India' named Kohli as one of just five players to receive the newly-created A+ contracts, which guarantee an annual retainer of more than $1 million, it said.

"Yet like the Indian cricket mega-stars who have come before him, Virat Kohli's big payday comes off the pitch" where he's partnered with top brands such as Puma, Pepsi, Audi and Oakley, Forbes said.

There are no women on the list.

Forbes said tennis' female sportspersons Li Na, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams were list regulars but Li retired in 2014 and Sharapova is still dealing with the aftermath of a 15-month suspension for using a banned substance.

Williams was the only woman to feature in the top 100 last year, but her prize money dropped from $8 million to $62,000 this year after she gave birth to her daughter, Alexis, in September.

This year 40 NBA players made the cut in Forbes' annual look at the world's 100 highest-paid athletes, breaking the record of 32 set last year by hoopsters.

Mayweather heads the world's highest-paid athletes for the fourth time in seven years, thanks to a $275 million payday for his August boxing match against UFC star Conor McGregor.

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