Switzerland put a damper on Canada's World Cup party.
The Swiss got goals from Rubén Vargas and Johan Manzambi to beat Canada 2-1 on Wednesday and win Group B. Switzerland will get a week of rest before returning to Vancouver to face one of the eight best third-place finishers on July 2.
“I think that we deserve to be where we are right now,” Switzerland coach Murat Yakin said.
“In three days from now, we will know the opponent of the next match, and now we have the possibility to watch this tournament, and to watch the matches, and we will take what we will get.”
Canada dropped to second place in the group and will play in the knockout round for the first time in team history. But the Canadians had been hoping for a win or a draw on Wednesday so they would play their round-of-32 match on home soil.
Instead, Canada will travel Inglewood, California, to play Sunday against South Africa, which beat South Korea 1-0 Wednesday night in Monterrey, Mexico, to finish second in Group A.
“We wanted to be here in Vancouver, but we still have a massive opportunity ahead of us to find a way to still electrify the nation, even though it’ll be from Los Angeles,” The Associated Press quoted Canada coach Jesse Marsch as saying.
After Manzambi came off the bench and scored two goals in Switzerland’s 4-1 victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina on Thursday, he earned a spot in the starting lineup against Canada. The 20-year-old midfielder became the youngest player to score two goals off the bench in the World Cup and is among the breakout young stars of the tournament.
Vargas broke through for Switzerland about 40 seconds into the second half with a strike that sailed past sliding Canada goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau, hit the post and went into the net.
Breel Embolo then crossed the ball to Manzambi, whose shot went through the hands of Crépeau to put the Swiss up 2-0 in the 57th minute. The goal quieted the red-clad sellout crowd, which included Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani.
Canada pulled a goal back in the 76th. Promise David scored with a volley on his first touch of the game about a minute after he came on as a substitute. But despite a flurry of chances, the Canadians couldn't find the second goal to keep them at home.
Switzerland captain Granit Xhaka had a chance in the scoreless first half but his free kick in the 37th minute and sailed over the net as he let out a yell.
Ali Ahmed had one of Canada’s best attempts of the first half in the 42nd minute, but his shot to the near post was smothered by Switzerland goalkeeper Gregor Kobel.
On Thursday, Canada won its first World Cup match, 6-0 over Qatar, and put itself in position to advance. But the historic victory was bittersweet because Ismaël Koné was stretchered off with a broken left leg. Koné was at Wednesday’s game on crutches.
The Swiss opened the World Cup with a lackluster 1-1 draw against Qatar before they routed Bosnia with a flurry of late goals. Considered the favorite in Group B, Switzerland has played at the last five World Cups and advanced to the round of 16 in the past three.
“We needed some time to get really into this tournament, for many nations that was the case,” Yakin said. “There were big teams who won against small countries, so we really needed to get into this tournament fast, and the way we play football now, I’m very happy with that.”
Canada, making its third World Cup appearance, opened the tournament with a 2-2 draw against Bosnia.
“We have to give our team a lot of credit. We’ve had a lot of injuries, we’ve had a lot of adversity, we’ve had a lot of injuries, we’ve had to manage a lot of different situations,” Marsch said. “We still got a really good point in the first game, we had a fantastic performance against Qatar and on another day, even though we go down 2-0, maybe we get a goal and maybe we win the group. It was just a matter of fine margins.”
Bosnia beat Qatar 3-1 in the other Group B match Wednesday and could still advance as a third-place team. Qatar was eliminated.
