The second round of group matches for Group E kicked off with Switzerland facing France. Both teams come confident and looking for their second victory in the tournament. Switzerland came from a 2-1 victory over Ecuador while France comes to the match with a 3-0 shutout against Honduras.
The first substitution of the match happened early on in the 9th minute as Steve Von Bergen suffered a cut around the eye after a high challenge from Frenchmen Oliver Giroud. Phillippe Senderos came on to replace the 31 year old center back. Switzerland is known for having a strong defense but that didn’t prevent Oliver Giroud from heading the ball into the back on the net with a great header on the 17th minute from a great cross.
It only took a couple of seconds for Blaise Matuidi to put France up 2-0 against Switzerland. The French managed to break the Swiss defense to put themselves in the lead with two goals.
A clear offside denied Switzerland of their goal on the 27th minute. The Swiss came close to score on the 29th minute but they weren’t able to finish their opportunity. France was awarded a penalty on the 31st minute after a small but clear tackle on Karim Benzema. Benzema stepped up to take it but was blocked by Diego Benaglio who managed to keep it 2-0. The Swiss stepped up their defensive line after those two goals because they showed an improvement after the two goals in one minute. Their improved defense didn’t last long as Oliver Giroud assisted Matheiu Valbuena in scoring the third goal for the French after going on a counter attack on the 40th minute. The French side managed to beat the Swiss defense again which resulted in France going ahead 3-0. the score had halftime remained at 3-0 in favor of France leaving them so far qualified into the Round of 16 but anything can happen in the second half. Switzerland managed to beat Ecuador in the final minute of stoppage time.
The second half began with the second substitution for the Swiss as Blerim Dzemalli came on for Valon Behrami to strengthen the midfield. Switzerland began the second half pressuring to try to tie up the game. France weren’t letting themselves be pushed around as they were looking to score more goals. The first substitution for France sees Oliver Giroud comes off for Paul Pogba on the 63rd minute. The fans applauded Giroud as he was coming off since he was the one that put France in the lead with his magnificent header in the first half. Mamadou Sakho came off in the 66th minute for the Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny. Karim Benzema netted the fourth goal for the French on the 67th minute from a magnificent lobbed pass from Paul Pogba.
The final substitution for the Swiss happened on the 69th minute as 22 year old Haris Seferovic came off to make room for 21 year old Josip Drmic. A 4-0 lead wasn’t enough for Moussa Sissoko as he added another goal to make it 5-0 for the French on the 73rd minute. One of the best goals so far for the 2014 FIFA World Cup was scored by Swiss man Blerim Dzemaili on the 81st minute. He shot a free kick right under the French wall straight to the back of the net. This still kept France in a 5-1 lead. Granit Xhaka netted the second goal 6 minutes later from a wonderful volley on the 87th minute to leave the score at 5-2.
France qualified to the Round of 16 with the 5-2 victory over Switzerland. France has made up for their bad performance during the 2010 FIFA World Cup with their back to back victories to put them in the playoffs of the this year’s World Cup in Brazil. Who will come out of Group E behind the French?
Photo Credit: FIFA
