Switzerland are really beginning to make a mark on the World Cup.
Switzerland just got a huge momentum boost after Xherdan Shaqiri’s 90th minute winner against Serbia on Friday.
However, it was Serbia who got off to a fast start when Aleksandar Mitrovic headed home in just the 5th minute.
After a couple of half-chances throughout the rest of the first half, Switzerland went into the dressing room facing a 1-0 deficit, knowing that if they were still down 45 minutes from now, their chances of advancing to the knockout stage would become minuscule.
The Switzerland breakthrough
But in the 52nd minute, they got the spark they needed, when Granit “boom Xhakalaka” Xhaka fired an absolute rocket past Vladimir Stojkovic.
It was such a bullet that if you watch the replay, you can literally see Branislav Ivanovic getting out of the way of the shot.
Then, in the 90th minute, Xherdan Shaqiri scored one of the biggest goals in Swiss World Cup history, giving Switzerland a 2-1 victory over a tough Serbian team.
Understandably so, the Swiss players were ecstatic after the match. Shaqiri’s late winner has seemingly given Switzerland a wave of momentum that they can ride straight to the Round of 16, and maybe even further.
How can they progress from here?
The Swiss are currently tied for the top spot in Group E with Brazil and finish out group play with a very winnable match against Costa Rica on Wednesday.
Assuming that both Switzerland beats Costa Rica and Brazil beats Serbia, Switzerland will be in a very favorable position heading into the knockout stages.
They’ll play the winner of Group F, and after losing to Mexico last Sunday, it seems less than likely that it’ll be Germany.
If Switzerland can bring this momentum into the Costa Rica match and beat them, say 3-0, and then manage to get matched up against Mexico or Sweden, instead of the defending World Cup champions, we could very easily be seeing Shaqiri and company in the quarterfinals.
And after that, who knows? If this exact scenario plays out, they’ll likely be matched up against either England or the winner of the wide-open Group H.
All five of those teams are very beatable, so it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that we see Switzerland in the semi-finals.
Now obviously there’s still a lot of football left to play and I’m getting way ahead of myself, but there is a ton of talent in this Switzerland side.
Next: Tottenham can't be seduced by World Cup standout
Could this hard-fought win in dramatic fashion be the catalyst to unleash their potential?