Swiss win 1-0 thanks to a strike from Embolo
Experience is a theme of this Switzerland squad; there are three players with a century of international appearances to their name, not to mention Haris Seferovic on his 98th game, and Yann Sommer, who turned 34 this month. This advantage helped them defeat France in the Euros, to reach the quarter-finals. They made it out of the group at the past two World Cups, so they were coming into this feeling relatively confident. Not much can be said of Cameroon though; their best achievement recently is a third-place finish in the African Cup of nations and they heavily relied on in-form striker Chuopo-Moting.
The Swiss started right off the bat with a deadly attack. They moved the ball up the pitch quickly to earn a corner. Shaqiri swung it in from the right, it was low towards the near post and caused confusion before Cameroon swiped it clear.
Cameroon will get their chance shortly after. A long pass was played through the Swiss defence for Mbuemo to chase, he got there and fired a shot straight at Sommer. The rebound lands at Toko-Ekambi’s feet but he flashed the ball over from 10 yards.
Regardless, it was the Swiss who controlled most of this rather even match. They seemed very keen to whip crosses into the box every chance they get avoiding short passes and going down the wings.
The second half would see the Swiss reap the fruits of their labor. They would score with their first shot on target. They moved the ball across the pitch quickly, eventually reaching Shaqiri on the right, who slides a cross into Embolo allowing him to tap in from six yards. He does not celebrate because he was born in Cameroon.
They would continue to enjoy a good spell of possession, putting plenty of passes together to frustrate Cameroon. But the Cameroonians didn’t give up. Choupo-Moting goes on a one-man mission to equalise. He barreled through a couple of challenges to get into the box; he reached the byline and tried to jab home from a tight angle but Sommer was there to turn it behind.
A few minutes later, a deep free-kick from Cameroon was lumped to the back post and headed back into the danger area but Sommer comes out to punch clear. Multiple times, Cameroon break on the counter past Swiss midfielders only to be stopped by Akanji and Elvedi.
At the dearth of full-time, Seferovic almost seals it for the Swiss but Castelletto gets back just in time to block the shot from inside the box.
The Cameroonians will be disappointed to lose such an even match but it is 3 points galore for the Swiss who will face a tougher challenge against Brazil next Monday.
