Late drama for the Swiss but progress is secured

SWITZERLAND 2 COSTA RICA2

Switzerland will meet Sweden in the last 16 of the World Cup as they secured safe passage from Group E with a dramatic late draw against Costa Rica.

While Costa Rica were out having lost their opening two matches, they were the better side in Nizhny Novgorod and were good value for their 2-2 draw.

Blerim Dzemaili opened the scoring for Switzerland after they had been largely on the back-foot with Kendall Watson marking his introduction into the Costa Rica side by levelling with a second-half header.

Josip Drmic came off the bench to seemingly win it for the Swiss late on, only for a late Costa Rica equaliser coming courtesy of a Yann Sommer own goal as Bryan Ruiz’s penalty went in off the Switzerland goalkeeper.

Vladimir Petkovic’s side will now take on Sweden in Saint Petersburg on Tuesday as Brazil’s victory over Serbia ensured the five-time winners progressed as Group E winners.

Switzerland slowly worked their way into the contest and took the lead on the half-hour mark, captain Stephan Lichtsteiner’s cross nodded down for Dzemaili to thrash home. Watson then grabbed his country’s first goal of the 2018 event with a well-timed header.

Switzerland retook the lead with a little over two minutes remaining as Drmic tucked away a low drive.

Costa Rica thought they had been awarded a last-gasp penalty as Ruiz went down in the box but the referee’s decision was nullified as VAR showed the former Fulham man was offside.

The skipper did get a chance to end his international career with a goal as, moments later, a legitimate penalty was given as Campbell was tripped. There was yet more drama as Ruiz smashed the penalty against the crossbar, the ball bouncing in off Sommer to deny Ruiz a goal with his final touch but earn his country a well-deserved point.