With the help of goals from Briel Embolo and Dan Ndoye, Switzerland defeated Algeria 2-0 and reached the pre-quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup 2026. With this, Switzerland has ended the drought that had been going on for 88 years. In fact, it has won a knockout match in the Mahakumbh of football for the first time since the World Cup played in France in 1938. She made it to the quarter-finals in 1954 but reached the last-8 by winning the playoff match.
The Swiss team had reached the Round of 16 in the last three World Cups but failed to progress further. This time it remains to be seen how far she travels. They will next face the winner of the match between Colombia and Ghana on Tuesday.
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Embolo gave the initial lead
Algeria was participating in the World Cup for the first time since 2014. It reached the knockout round in 2014 but lost to Germany. They dominated the match played on Thursday (July 2) night for the first 10 minutes but after that Switzerland took the lead and never looked back. Yohan Mzambi, who was in excellent form, took the ball quickly from the right and delivered a brilliant cross to Embolo. Embolo had no trouble scoring on him. Embolo celebrated his 26th international goal by slipping on his knees.
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Ndoye scored a goal at the beginning of the second half
Switzerland doubled its lead as the second half started. Not even a minute into the second half, Ndoye fired a powerful shot from the top of the box. Algerian goalkeeper Luca Zidane tried to stop it by diving but failed. Fabian Reeder had a golden opportunity to score the third goal for Switzerland in the 81st minute. When the ball was rapidly passing near the Algerian goal, all he had to do was to direct it but he failed in this.
Algeria reached the Round of 32 by finishing third in its group. Algeria’s current head coach Vladimir Petkovic coached Switzerland from 2014 to 2021 and also took the team to the knockout round in the 2018 World Cup played in Russia.
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