Davinson Sánchez looked to the heavens. Cucho Hernández trudged back to his teammates. By the end, the pair’s penalty misses sent the Colombian team to the grass in anguish as Switzerland danced in front of their supporters, nearly alone in a sea of yellow. Switzerland had prevailed on penalties, 4-3, Ruben Vargas’s decider bringing an emotional end to more than two hours of tense, tentative, and ludicrously goal-free football in the World Cup last 16.
Gregor Kobel was Switzerland’s penalty hero, pulling off a stunning shootout save from Colombia’s Cucho Hernandez to help set up a quarter-final clash with Argentina. The Swiss advance to the quarter-finals for the first time since 1954, when that stage was the first knockout round of a Swiss-hosted tournament featuring 16 teams.
“Switzerland beat Colombia 4-3 on penalties to reach World Cup quarter-finals for first time since 1954.”
“I think I need another couple of hours or days to process what just happened,” a delighted Switzerland manager Murat Yakin said after the match. “This is a dream.” Yakin repeatedly said the match had gone exactly to plan. If that is true, that plan must have consisted solely of finer points. This was more chess game than football match, with each team probing and prodding equally for more than 120 minutes, each sorely missing a finishing touch. Possession remained even. Midfields took turns controlling proceedings, but only for minutes at a time.
The Colombians had numerous chances and moments that brimmed with danger, but only rarely was that promise fulfilled. And when the chances did come, Colombian strikers usually wasted them – none more important than Jaminton Campaz firing over the bar from 10 yards out in the 116th minute.
“We were aware that this was going to be a tactical, tight match,” Colombia manager Néstor Lorenzo said. “Of course, we should have scored a goal.”
The game could surely have benefited from the presence of Swiss breakout star Johan Manzambi, their leading scorer who sustained a knee injury in training the previous day and was not on the team sheet. Yakin said that the team had made all the necessary adjustments.
Switzerland will face a tall task to better that result, facing Lionel Messi and Argentina in Kansas City in four days’ time.