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Switzerland beat Serbia 2-1 at the Kaliningrad Stadium and moved to second place in World Cup Group E. It was the Serbians that struck first when Aleksander Mitrovic needed only five minutes to open his account for the tournament.
Granit Xhaka equalized early in the second half to lead the charge for Switzerland's comeback, and they left it until the very end when talisman Xherdan Shaqiri stunned the Serbian fans and stole a win for the Swiss with his stoppage-time winner.
Switzerland's win places them ahead of Serbia on three points and ties them with Brazil on four points as the race for Round of 16 qualification is now a three horse race.
On that note, here are the five talking points from the game.
#5 Inadequate support for Dusan Tadic
Serbia playmaker Dusan Tadic failed to attract any strong support against Switzerland from the likes of Filip Kostic and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic. The duo was able to combine for just two key passes and two shots respectively as they failed to make their presence known in the final third of the pitch.
Milinkovic-Savic, who usually plays in defensive midfield at club level, was employed in an advanced role behind Aleksander Mitrovic against Switzerland. A lot was expected from him but he did not deliver and made a number of costly errors that hurt Serbia significantly.
The 23 year old was able to complete just one dribble but ended up losing the ball nine times, that brought an end to a number of promising build-ups in and around the box. Similarly, Milinkovic-Savic did not help out much on the defensive side either and committed four fouls that earned him a yellow card to cap off his disappointing Evening.
Meanwhile Filip Kostic, playing out wide on the left, presented a similar case. The Hamburg winger did not contribute anything substantial of sorts as he failed to provide service with his inaccurate crossing and was dispossessed four times before being taken off in the 64th minute.
#4 Haris Seferovic goes missing
The 2018 FIFA World Cup has proven to be a nightmare thus far for the Switzerland number 9, Haris Seferovic. For the second straight game, the Benfica man failed to have any sort of influence on the game and was isolated for the majority of the first half before he was substituted at halftime.
Seferovic had zero shots at goal and shockingly registered only five touches in his 45-minute appearance. He played in two successful passes and was caught offside once to cap off his struggles.
The forward's shift will rank up with some of the worst all-time World Cup performances. The case was the same for Seferovic in the first game against Brazil where he ended up being disastrous and was unable to muster up a single attempt at goal.
#3 Valon Behrami's midfield masterclass
Valon Behrami has been one of the standout players for Switzerland in the two World Cup matches so far. His role in midfield has been very influential and it has helped the Swiss massively as they sit in a pretty position in Group E.
Behrami, who is usually depended upon for his defensive work, has been quite the opposite this tournament and has evolved into the role of being a playmaker where he is starting the build-ups for the attacks from midfield.
Combined with his 100 percent pass completion rate in the first half, the 33 year old did his job on the defensive end exceptionally too. Behrami won a couple of aerial duels and accumulated five successful tackles, two interceptions and brought an end to several Serbian attacking build-up plays.
Along with Granit Xhaka, the defensive midfield pairing controlled the game and ensured that a large portion of the play was going through the middle of the park, this further helped Switzerland have a grip on the game heading into the latter stages.
#2 Serbia's qualification hopes hang in the balance
Serbia were en route to picking up a guaranteed point on Friday night before Switzerland scored the winner to leave their chances of qualification to the next round in tatters.
The White Eagles had some glorious opportunities to extend their lead in the first half itself and failed to capitalize on the momentum.
However, missed opportunities reflected later as a one-goal deficit allowed Switzerland to remain in the game and paved the way for a second-half comeback. The Serbians had a poor second period of the game as they failed to hold possession of the ball for long spells and the chances also started decreasing.
Dusan Tadic and Aleksander Mitrovic were the only ones who seemed to carry any real threat at goal as a lack of support from fellow attackers let the team down. The 2-1 loss drops Serbia to third place in Group E, one point adrift of leaders Brazil and second-placed Switzerland.
Mladen Krstajic's men face a daunting challenge from Brazil in their final group match with only a win guaranteeing them progress to the Round of 16. A draw will make it complicated for Serbia since they will have to then rely upon the already eliminated Costa Rica to pull off a miracle against the Swiss.
#1 Shaqiri's heroics steal the win for Switzerland
Xherdan Shaqiri could not have picked a better occasion to step up and be the deciding factor in 'The Comeback of Kaliningrad' for Switzerland.
However, a large portion of Shaqiri's game had turned out to be frustrating, as half of his attempts at goal was blocked by the Serbian defence. In spite of the growing grievance, it did not affect the Stoke man as he was still creating chances and beating defenders as the game progressed into the latter stages.
When needed the most, he was there, as a swift counter-attack was started by the Swiss when the ball was first cleared out of the box to Mario Gavranovic in midfield, who played it straight to Shaqiri.
The winger burst forward with his electric pace, fended off a sliding challenge from Branislav Ivanovic in the box and tucked away his shot between the legs of Serbia's goalkeeper to snatch the three points for his country.
Shaqiri's winning goal leaves Switzerland in pole position of qualifying for the Round of 16 when they face off against win-less Costa Rica in their final group encounter on June 27 in Nizhny Novgorod.
