For years, the accusation has followed Switzerland around like a shadow. That they are a side built for the group stage. That when the pressure ratche...
For years, the accusation has followed Switzerland around like a shadow. That they are a side built for the group stage. That when the pressure ratchets up and the stakes become life or death, the Nati somehow find a way to bottle it. That narrative was buried in Vancouver on a damp Pacific evening, buried under a performance of tactical discipline and clinical finishing that sent Algeria packing.The scoreline reads 2. 0, but that does not do justice to the control Murat Yakin's men exerted from the first whistle. This was not a smash and grab. This was a lesson in game management. Breel Embolo's opener was a classic piece of Swiss transitional play, a quick break that caught the Fennecs pushing too high, and the finish was ice cold. Then came Dan Ndoye, running the channels, making the pitch big, and slotting home the second to seal the deal. Squeaky bum time never arrived. The Swiss low block was resolute, disciplined, and utterly effective.For Algeria, this is a bitter pill. They showed early promise in the tournament, flashes of that fluid, attacking football that made them darlings of the neutrals. But against a side as tactically flexible as this Swiss outfit, promise counts for nothing. They simply could not find a way through. The frustration was palpable. They huffed, they puffed, but Manzambi marshalled his backline with the authority of a man who has been waiting his whole life for this moment. The question now, of course, is how far can this belief carry them
