Brazil, Switzerland through to round of 16 and other World Cup highlights

For anyone who fancied soccer a slow, low-scoring sport, Friday’s Group G finale between Serbia and Switzerland presented a thrilling rebuttal. At the end of a frenetic affair, Switzerland won, 3-2, and advanced to the round of 16.

The shots started in the opening seconds, when Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka’s shot from outside the box was blocked and Breel Embolo’s first-minute shot was saved. Teammate Xherdan Shaqiri netted the first goal in the 20th minute, opening a seesaw series of swings between the European sides competing for a place in the Round of 16.

Tempers flaring in the closing stages of Switzerland-Serbia. There’s much pushing and shoving, first on the end line and then near midfield. Granit Xhaka sees yellow for the Swiss with Nikola Milenković getting a caution for Serbia. Goal scorer Breel Embolo comes off for Noah Okafor as the Swiss try to get to the final whistle.

GOAL: Vincent Aboubakar scores for Cameroon to put the Indomitable Lions ahead, 1-0, in the second minute of stoppage time. He’s given a yellow card for taking his shirt off in celebration and is sent off. Wild scenes in Lusail.

We’re into the 82nd minute and as it stands, Brazil wins Group G with Switzerland finishing second. If the Swiss stay ahead of Serbia, Cameroon cannot reach the knockout stage of the World Cup. If Serbia equalizes or goes ahead, however, the African side will advance with a win over Brazil. If they don’t beat Brazil and Serbia beats Switzerland, Serbia would go through. It’s all very complicated, really. Regardless, the winner of the group gets South Korea on Monday while the runner-up meets Portugal on Tuesday.

Cameroon’s defenders are making some nice tackles on Brazil’s speedy wingers as the clock winds down. The Indomitable Lions’ attack has failed to create any solid scoring opportunities, but the defense is doing well to restrain a Brazilian squad that was last held scoreless in a game on Nov. 16, 2021, in a qualifier against Argentina.

No penalty awarded to Serbia after Aleksandar Mitrović went down in the box as he tried to corral the ball in the 65th minute. After a review, the referee issued a yellow card to backup Serbian goalkeeper Predrag Rajković following an verbal confrontation between Swiss and Serbian bench players who ventured onto the pitch.

Nemanja Maksimović on for Sergej Milinković-Savić in the 67th minute as Serbia presses for another goal. Switzerland counters with Denis Zakaria and Edimilson Fernandes for Djibril Sow and likely man of the match Xherdan Shaqiri to try to see the match out.

Cameroon has brought on Karl Toko-Ekambi in the 64th minute to replace Bryan Mbeumo, who had the Indomitable Lions’ best scoring chance at the end of the first half. Toko-Ekambi, a forward for Lyon, has been the hero for this team before: In March, his 124th-minute winner in a qualifier sent Cameroon to the World Cup.

Breel Embolo missed a close-range effort in the 57th minute, a somewhat startling miss given the scoring frenzy through two-thirds of this contest. Switzerland still leads 3-2.

Lots happening here. Devis Epassy had at least three saves in a four-minute span and kept his side alive amid a wave of Brazil attacks, but he took a hard hit into the post on his latest stop.

Meanwhile, Brazil has subbed on Marquinhos for Alex Telles, Bruno Guimarães for Fred and Éverton Ribeiro for Rodrygo.

Serbia needs two goals and brings on two substitutes to try to bolster the attack. Nemanja Gudelj and Luka Jović replace Milos Veljković and Dusan Vlahović with 35 minutes to play. Also for Serbia, Strahinja Pavlović was shown a yellow card in the 56th minute.

Vincent Aboubakar fired a strike that fell just wide of the left side of the goal in the 51st minute. Now that Switzerland has scored, Cameroon faces a much tougher road to qualify — it’ll need to score twice here against Brazil and get an equalizer from Serbia in the other match.