Switzerland vs Colombia. Round of 16. Vancouver. 52,497 fans, of whom around 50,000 must have been clad in yellow. A nil-nil stalemate after 120 minutes. Switzerland prevailed 4-3 on penalties, reaching their first World Cup quarter-final since 1954. End of the road for Colombia.
There is little to retrace from the match itself. So instead, context.
Before the caravan rolled into Canada, the previous seven round of 16 matches had produced 21 goals, three a game. There was action at the Azteca, where England beat Mexico 3-2. A spectacle at Seattle, where Belgium put four past co-hosts USA, then did the Donald Trump YMCA shimmy. How can we not mention Cristiano Ronaldo’s agony at Arlington, or Erling Haaland’s euphoria at East Rutherford? The world, in fact, was yet to recover from the adrenaline of Atlanta, still debating every second of Argentina’s win over Egypt.
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That these two teams met in the final round of 16 tie was not ordained at FIFA headquarters, which, coincidentally, happens to be in Switzerland. They met at Vancouver because they topped their respective groups, and defeated their respective round of 32 opponents. They met because they earned it.
It is in this setting that we arrive in Vancouver. Two of the tournament’s most stubborn defences arrived having conceded only four goals between them in almost 1,000 minutes of football. One every four hours.
Switzerland’s Ruben Vargas (17) reacts after scoring the winning penalty shot. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Colombia shoot from everywhere, but they predominantly shoot blanks. In their last five matches, including this one, they scored only twice from 79 shots. A success rate of 2.5%.
The effort deserves credit, since from the Swiss team, there barely was any. Murat Yakin dresses like a marksman hired to eliminate James Bond, but his team possesses a curious aversion to pulling the trigger. Their last attempt on target came in the 32nd minute. There was not a single attempt, from either side, in the last thirty minutes. As if a truce had been signed. Regulation time yielded 0.7 expected goals, the lowest figure of this World Cup.
Journalists carrying a passport of either nation had their fate and fandom sealed. Those who sat on the neutral side whispered introspectively: “Does my boss secretly hate me?”
For long stretches, the match felt disconnected from the standard this World Cup has otherwise set. The initial 90 did not produce an opportunity that could be classified as blue-chip. Extra time, however, did. Had Jhon Lucumí’s header not struck the crossbar, or had Jaminton Campaz not skied a one-on-one opportunity that Granit Xhaka had presented him on a plate, Colombia would have been preparing for a quarter-final against fellow South Americans from Argentina. Instead, they will be boarding flights to Bogotá.
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Switzerland won’t, courtesy of a stunning save from Gregor Kobel to deny Cucho Hernández in the penalty shootout, and a Davinson Sánchez attempt that was two inches too high. For Kobel, it was a crowning moment, and a continuation of the legacy left by predecessor Yann Sommer.
The game might have been uneventful in isolation, but there is a profound historical context underlying this specific matchup, one that transcends sport altogether. The Rossocrociati have not reached the quarter-finals in five decades, but they have come close before, most painfully in 1994, another World Cup in North America.
Roy Hodgson’s Swiss side had already secured their place in the knockout rounds when Andrés Escobar’s Colombia, already eliminated, beat them 2-0 in a dead-rubber final group match. That win came too late to matter. Colombia’s fate had already been sealed nine days earlier, when Escobar turned a routine clearance into his own net in a 2-1 loss to the United States. Switzerland went on to lose 3-0 to Spain in the round of 16.
Six bullets. Witnesses said the gunman shouted “¡Gol!” after every shot.
News of his death spread through the public announcement system just moments before Switzerland’s own match against Spain. A minute’s silence was observed. Hodgson’s team could barely recover from the shock: a colleague they would exchanged pleasantries with only days earlier, gone. A crushing defeat followed. Goalkeeper Marco Pascolo would later acknowledge that news of Escobar’s death had affected the team.
Swiss football drifted into obscurity after that tournament. Ranked 11th in the world then, they plummeted to 83rd within four years and disappeared from the World Cup for twelve. Then, the slow climb. And now, finally, the quarter-finals. The game was unremarkable. Switzerland’s achievement is anything but.
Switzerland prevailed 4-3 on penalties, reaching their first World Cup quarter-final since 1954. (AP Photo) 
Switzerland’s Ruben Vargas (17) reacts after scoring the winning penalty shot. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
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