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.
