In Friday’s World Cup action, Thiago Silva was an unused substitute as Brazil topped Group G, while Denis Zakaria played 25 minutes as Switzerland also advanced to the round of 16.
Brazil, who had already qualified for the round of 16, made many changes to their starting lineup with many household names including our man Thiago Silva.
They needed a point before kick-off against Cameroon to guarantee first place in Group G, while they could also prevail as group winners with a loss, provided Switzerland did not win by four goals.
The heavy favorites got off to a strong start, with Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli forcing a fine save from the African team’s goalkeeper early on with a header.
However, despite monopolizing possession, Brazil were defeated by a header from Vincent Aboubakar in injury time, the striker was later sent off after removing his shirt.
Tite’s men went for an equalizer and finished with a 21-shot tally, testing Devis Epassy seven times, but ultimately had to settle for six-point haul from their three Group G games.
Serbia and Switzerland played out one of the most dramatic ties of the tournament with the latter taking the spoils in a five-goal thriller.
Xherdan Shaqiri put the Swiss ahead in Doha with a well-placed left foot shot after 20 minutes. They needed a point to advance, but they started on the front foot as if they were the ones who needed a win, not the Serbs.
With the score level 2-2 at half time, Switzerland had to rely on Nottingham Forest central midfielder Remo Freuler to put them back in front.
The Swiss then looked to close shop with around half an hour remaining and that’s when they turned to Denis Zakaria.
The midfielder, on loan to the Blues from Juventus, entered the defensive midfield to help see the end of the game and thus ended the contest.
Brazil plays South Korea at 7:00 p.m. on Monday and Thiago Silva is expected to captain the Selecao again, while Switzerland faces Portugal at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday.
Earlier on Friday, Ghana suffered heartbreak at the hands of Uruguay for the second time at a World Cup, exiting the tournament after a 2-0 defeat.
Baba had started Ghana’s loss to Portugal before coming on as a substitute in their dramatic victory over South Korea. He was back in the starting XI today for the showdown with Uruguay that would determine who qualified from Group H.
Much of the pre-match talk had been about Luis Suarez’s handball against Ghana in the two countries’ only previous meeting, 12 years earlier. Asamoah Gyan missed the ensuing penalty on that fateful night in Johannesburg, and history repeated itself at the Al Janoub Stadium. Andre Ayew, the only Black Star to feature in 2010, saw Sergio Rochet save his meek penalty midway through the first half.
As in South Africa, Ghana was punished for its waste. Georgian de Arrascaeta, Flamengo’s attacking midfielder, scored twice in six minutes on either side of the half hour to give Uruguay a commanding lead.
Less than 60 seconds into the second half, Baba’s cross caught substitute Osman Bukari at the far post, but he deflected his shot wide. The same thing happened when Antoine Semenyo had a successful goal when the ball bounced his way with 10 minutes remaining. Rochet then made a fine fingertip save to deny Mohammed Kudus after Baba stripped him of possession.
With South Korea scoring a stoppage-time winner against Portugal in the other group game, Uruguay had to score another to edge the Asian side on goal difference. Ghana still needed two of their own to advance, but in eight captivating stoppage minutes neither could score another, so it’s South Korea who goes through with Portugal.
