Supp. Fifteen 'Germany Crash Out and Brazil Progress'

A look at Germany and their failings will come in a later post due to the enormity of their exit from the competition - it is incredible to see them at the very bottom of their relatively simple group upon the conclusion of the group stage.

The game which opened the days action saw Scandinavian side Sweden take on tournament surprise package Mexico in Ekaterinburg. After the talented Hirving Lozano put an early chance on a plate for Carlos Vela which went wide the Swedes came to the fore. The Swedish looked good, and would have taken an early lead had Guillermo Ochoa not kept Berg’s close range effort out. 10 minutes into the second half the Swedes took the lead through Ludwig Augustinsson - it was made 2-0 by Andreas Granqvist who notched his second of the tournament from the penalty spot. A late Edson Alvarez own goal made it 3-0 for Sweden who topped the group as a consequence, progressing for the first time in years to the knockout stages.

The Swiss who were looking to progress from Group E took on minnows Costa Rica in Nizhny Novgorod; the end result, a 2-2 draw after an intense encounter awarded the Swiss a point;enough to progress second in the Group. They came in behind Brazil after their impressive comeback against Serbia in the previous round of fixtures. Attacking midfielder Dzemaili opened the scoring from close range for Switzerland before later in the piece Kendall Waston levelled from a corner for the Costa Ricans, heading home brilliantly.

Three minutes from time the Swiss substitute wideman Denis Zakaria drove a cross not too dissimilar to the one which crafted Marcos Rojo’s winner for Argentina the day before - it was met by fellow substitute Josep Durmic who finished exquisitely and gave the swiss not only a win, but a path into the round of 16: a great triumph for the relatively small footballing nation.

Brazil still had to secure a result in order to ensure progression to the round of 16 as they took on Serbia in the warm conditions at the Spartak Stadium - Tite named an unchanged side to the one which left it late to overcome Costa Rica in the groups second game. Neymar struck in that game and looked to move forward and leave his stamp on the tournament in the final game before knockout football reigned. Philippe Coutinho kept his place in midfield and was essential in the making of the first goal - playing an inviting ball in behind the flat Serbian defense 36’ minutes in which midfield enforcer and former Spurs man Paulinho got on the end of to toe-poke home beyond the goalkeeper. Brazil had made their dominance count before the break; a big factor. After dominating large amounts of the second half, Brazil killed the tie when Thiago Silva headed home a bullet from an immaculate Neymar corner. The remaining twenty minutes was spent with Brazil in possession as Serbia sat deeper and deeper. After going through the motions and seeing out a clean sheet for Alisson, Brazil progressed seamlessly. It will now be interesting to view the side as they go forward into the knockout phases.