Embolo and Ndoye fire Switzerland into last 16 against abject Algeria

Eager to secure their first-ever WC knockout phase victory, the Fennecs began brightly and should have taken an early lead through Houssem Aouar, but his effort from a promising position inside the box was steered well wide.

Algeria were left to quickly rue that missed opportunity, as Switzerland edged ahead after 10 minutes with their very first shot of the match. 

A tremendous run from Johan Manzambi took the highly-rated 20-year-old to the byline, before he smartly passed the ball into the six-yard box for Breel Embolo to tap home and net his second goal of the tournament. 

The remainder of the first half wasn’t over-blessed with clear-cut opportunities for either side. Denis Zakaria saw a header flash narrowly over the bar for Murat Yakin’s team, while at the opposite end, Fares Chaibi had a shot which was comfortably dealt with by Gregor Kobel.

The Fennecs’ best opportunity to score inside the opening 45 minutes fell to Ibrahim Maza shortly before the interval, when a lack of composure saw him fire wide in disappointing fashion. 

The second half couldn’t have started any better for the A-Team Nati as they doubled their advantage inside the very first minute of the restart.

A poor clearance from the Algerian defence presented Dan Ndoye with the chance to shoot from 15 yards out, and he made no mistake to find the bottom corner and secure his ninth goal for his country.

Ndoye’s strike really knocked the stuffing out of Algeria, and Switzerland were never put under any significant pressure by their opponents in the second half as they eased to victory.

The A-Team Nati should have capped the game off in style with 10 minutes remaining, but substitute Fabian Rieder somehow side-footed the ball straight at Luca Zidane with the goal at his mercy. 

Switzerland will face Colombia or Ghana in the last 16 on Tuesday and will have high hopes of reaching the quarter-finals. The A-Team Nati are now unbeaten in their last seven games and have won three consecutive WC matches for the first time in their history.

For Algeria, their campaign has come to an end, and the Fennecs must now shift their attention to the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, which start in September.