Switzerland Vargas the Way to Beat Colombia's Goalkeeper

12/13ths of the World Cup

 

 

 

Switzerland have been eliminated in 4 of the last 5 World Cups, and the last 3  in a row, in the Round of 16. Their last playoff victory came in 1938 when the beat Nazi Germany 4-2 in a replay after drawing the first match 1-1. Their path to national history took them through the waiting arms of Colombia. The South Americans were hoping to reach the Quarterfinals for the 2nd time in their history, having achieved that benchmark in 2014. The Swiss had given up 3 goals in 4 matches, while Colombia had only given up 1 in 4 matches. This was always going to be a defensive battle. Unfortunately, for fans the match lacked goals after the 90 minutes of regulation, and 30 minutes of extra time. Their fortunes would be determined by a penalty kick shootout. Colombia would start. 

Juan Fernando Quintero would step up first for Colombia. His shot would go just left of center and in, as Gregor Kobel would dive towards the right of goal. Granit Xhaka would go first for Switzerland. He would fire to the left of goal, and though Camilo Vargas would dive in the right direction and get a hand on the ball, the shot was too strong to keep out. Both teams are tied at 1.

Davinson Sanchez would take the next spot kick for Colombia. He would fire top center of goal, and though Gregor Kobel dove to his right and out of the way, the ball would bounce of the inside of the crossbar, deflect down and stay out of goal. Zeki Amdouni would step up for Switzerland with a chance to take the lead. His shot would find the bottom right corner of the net as Camilo Vargas dove the opposite direction. 2-1 to Switzerland. 

Round 3 would begin with Jaminton Campaz. He would fire low and to the right, and beat Gregor Kobel who dove correctly, but just over the ball. Manuel Akanji would try next for Switzerland, with the hope of keeping the pressure on Colombia. His shot would go high and center but well over the crossbar to tie the shootout at 2 goals apiece. 

Cucho Hernandez would try to put Colombia up for the first time in the shootout. He would fire low and to the left, but Gregor Kobel would dive across the grass and block the shot with his hand. Cedric Itten would step up for Switzerland to try and put them back ahead. Cedric would fire down the center of goal as Camilo Vargas would dive to his right. Switzerland leads 3-2.

Luis Diaz would take the 5th penalty kick for Colombia needing to score to keep them alive. He would fire low and to the left while looking Gregor Kobel to the opposite corner. The keeper would fumble to his wrong side as Colombia's last hope would come to Camilo Vargas making a save. Ruben Vargas would step up and place the ball low and to the left as Camilo would dive the wrong way. Colombia will go home wishing they could have this match back as they surely could have won. Switzerland advance to the Quarterfinals to face Argentina.

 

 

 

Two players matched their picks today. Both selected Argentina to score 3 goals and advance to the Quarterfinals. They failed to pick Egypt as their opponents. They also selected Switzerland to battle Colombia, and failed to guess the scoreline or that Switzerland would advance. With 67 points apiece, MalumSigma and Scriptor made tiny waves in the tournament. Though Scriptor would move up from 3rd place to 2nd, it is MalumSigma who has extended his lead to 49 points. He also dominated the Round of 16 by picking 6 out of 8 winners heading into the Quarterfinals. Congratulations MalumSigma!

After 27 straight days of football, the World Cup finally takes a break. There will be no matches played tomorrow, as the Quarterfinals will kick off with France and Morocco at 4:00 pm from Boston, Massachusetts on Thursday. It is a rematch of the 2nd Semifinal from World Cup 2022 that saw France win 2-0, and Morocco fall to 4th place with 2 straight losses to end their run. Can Morocco avenge their defeat? You all better hope not.  No one picked Morocco to go into the Semifinals, and 5 competitors picked France to make it into the next round. 

A scoring update for the next round. Correct match-ups are now worth 15 points, and selecting the right winner in this scenario garners another 10 points. Each Semifinalist you correctly pick regardless of where you have them in the bracket is worth 75 points. 

The Grand Salmon Alpaca is off now to get some much needed rest. Until Thursday my Crias. Spend your off day with friends and family. You're hearts very well could be broken by the week's end.