St. Petersburg saw a game of football being played by two sides of limited strength who have defied the odds to last this long in the World Cup which saw the high and mighty fall over the period of the group stages and the last 16.
Switzerland and Sweden fought on for the 90 minutes of regulation time and beyond which saw Sweden finally come through and justifiably so as they were slightly more aggressive and created better chances. However, that was a marginal call at best. The winning goal also came by what can best be described as an accident.
The only goal of the game was scored midway through the second half when Emil Forsberg shot from the edge of the area heading towards goalkeeper Yann Sommer only for central defender Manuel Akanji to deflect it high into the top corner. A game that seemed to head towards a draw was finally settled. No extra time heroics from anyone in this match.
Switzerland was relying heavily on Xherdan Shaqiri but he seemed a little out of sorts for some reason. However, Forsberg had to clear a header from the line from an Embolo.
Swiss defender Michael Lang was sent off in injury time for hauling down the breaking Martin Olsson, even if the subsequent penalty call was correctly overturned on the strength of VAR. The foul had been outside the penalty area. Controversy remained surrounding the red card, but the referee did not withdraw his decision. Sweden moved on into the next stage of the World Cup.
