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Brazil were held to a 1-1 draw by Switzerland in their opening Group E encounter of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Rostov. The Selecao opened the scoring through a stunning long-range strike from Philippe Coutinho in the 20th minute.
But the Swiss did not fall behind in spite of conceding early on and struck back through Steven Zuber, who headed in home from a Xherdan Shaqiri corner to equalize for Switzerland in the 50th minute.
The stalemate leaves both the teams tied on one point each, two points behind Group leaders Serbia in Group E with Brazil scheduled to play Costa Rica in their next outing whereas Switzerland will clash against Serbia.
On that note, here is a look at the 3 things that went right for Switzerland:
#3 Keeping Neymar quiet
Brazil head coach Tite had admitted a day prior to the game that Neymar was not fully fit for the game on Sunday Evening. However, he did play the entire 90 but did struggle at times as Switzerland did an excellent job of shutting down the PSG superstar.
Neymar had four attempts at goal and completed five dribbles but the tactics of the Swiss to keep the 26-year-old quiet worked. This was employed by regularly fouling him, that saw his momentum get disrupted several times as he was barred from taking control of the proceedings single-handedly.
This further impacted the game as Neymar let the pressure affect him and this resulted in him becoming desperate that saw him commit a lot of errors when he took unnecessary shots instead of passing it out to his teammates.
This led to the growing of Neymar's grievance as he was flagged offside and started losing the ball in the attacking half and was dispossessed a total of eight times. Switzerland came with clear intentions totally focused on Brazil's ace and it resulted in them getting a well-earned draw as Neymar's performance affected his teammates as well.
#2 Total team effort defensively
Switzerland were set up and organized excellently on the defensive end against Brazil. Every outfield player on the team contributed and tracked back in their endeavor as they successfully contained The Selecao to a solitary goal.
Following their equalizer, the defensive burden rose up but Switzerland were ready for the challenge ahead as they successfully Parked The Bus for the last half hour of the game. The back four were busy clearing the ball out of danger from the box as Stephan Lichtsteiner, Manuel Akanji, Fabian Schar and Ricardo Rodriguez made a total of 12 clearances.
The Swiss committed 19 fouls during the entire span of the game, rattling the Brazilian attackers' energy and flow as a gritty Switzerland did not allow them to dominate. Nearly, every Swiss player attempted a tackle or a foul with Neymar being their focus, as he was fouled 10 times.
Valon Behrami was influential in midfield, making six successful tackles and two interceptions and did an excellent job in keeping track of Neymar. Similarly, the attacking trio of Xherdan Shaqiri and Blerim Dzemaili also followed in on the act as they chipped in with three tackles each.
#1 Taking control in the first half
Despite falling behind in the opening 20 minutes, Switzerland did not let the lead affect them severely whereas Brazil became a bit relaxed. The Swiss made the Brazilians pay for it as they got back in the game and started seeing more of the ball.
It was only upwards for Switzerland from this point as Xherdan Shaqiri, Blerim Dzemaili and Steven Zuber started to settle in the game and create opportunities. However, a lack of quality in the final third resulted in chances being wasted as striker Haris Seferovic was isolated and failed to register his presence in the game.
The Swiss had only six attempts at goal but the way the game panned out, they needed only random chance as they finished the first half in control. The reward ultimately came five minutes into the second half, as a free Steven Zuber headed in Shaqiri's corner to level it up whereas Brazil's poor man marking in the box hurt them.
The goal was enough to salvage a well-earned point as Vladimir Petkovic's men ground out their desired result. This draw will surely give Switzerland confidence to match up against quality oppositions of a similar kind in the future if they manage to get out of a difficult Group E and progress beyond in the tournament.
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