🏆⚽Serbia 🇷🇸 2-3🇨🇭Switzerland
Swiss players celebrate as they cruise past Serbia, 3-2, in the final game of Group G at the World Cup in Qatar, Dec. 2, 2022.
Switzerland reached the World Cup knockout round for the third successive tournament after prevailing 3-2 over Serbia on Friday to finish runners-up in Group G and set up a last 16 showdown with Portugal.
In a contest that ebbed and flowed at breakneck speed in the first half at Stadium 974, Xherdan Shaqiri put Switzerland ahead, but Serbia swiftly scored twice within 10 minutes through Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dusan Vlahovic to flip the game on its head.
Breel Embolo delivered another twist in an absorbing opening period by pulling Switzerland level just before the break, while Remo Freuler scored 3 minutes after the restart to restore their one-goal advantage again.
Switzerland fired warning shots with barely 30 seconds on the clock, as captain Granit Xhaka's strike was blocked by the Serbian defense before goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic denied both an Embolo one-on-one and Xhaka on the rebound. (Reuters)