Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Spain, Portugal and Switzerland progressed to the last 16 in another compelling day of World Cup knockout matches.
Spain cruised past Austria 3-0 and remain among the favourites for the title with Mikel Oyarzabal scoring a double and Pedro Porro also in the scorebook.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first goal in World Cup knockout matches before super sub Goncalo Ramos scored a header in the 94th minute to see Portugal past Croatia 2-1.
Ivan Perisic scored the opener for Croatia with a typically classy finish.
Switzerland are through to the round of 16 after an assured 2-0 win over Algeria in Vancouver today.
A goal in each half was enough to see them through where they will play the winner of Ghana and Colombia which is scheduled for Saturday AEST.
Algeria threatened but struggled to create meaningful chances at goal while Switzerland could well have scored a third or even a fourth goal.
Captain Granit Xhaka brought up his 150th cap and the former Arsenal playmaker was at the heart of the battle throughout the match.
They are a serious threat next round and beyond.
Swiss substitute Fabian Rieder may have just made the worst miss of this world cup.
He had the whole goal at his mercy but scuffed his side-footed shot and it went across the face of goal.
It should have been 3-0 but it is not.
Both sides have made late subs including Embolo who has come off.
Switzerland 2-0 Algeria, 84 minutes
Both sides have made big changes for the last 20 minutes.
Swiss star Johan Manzambi has been replaced by Leeds United forward Noah Okafor while Algerian great Riyad Mahrez has been subbed out in favour of Anis Hadj Moussa.
It’s now or never time for Algeria.
Switzerland 2-0 Algeria, 73 minutes
Switzerland are in complete control of this match with a 2-0 lead and a growing amount of possession.
Algeria need to change things so they’ve brought on Jaouen Hadjam and Amine Gouiri for midfielders just before the hour.
Gouiri has moved upfront and I would expect we will see Hadjam attacking from wide positions.
We are at the drinks break and time is getting away from Algeria.
Switzerland 2-0 Algeria, 67 minutes
Dan Ndoye has blasted home a goal just 53 seconds into the second half as Switzerland take a 2-0 lead.
The Algerians failed to clear the ball from deep in defence, they only found Ndoye on the edge of the box and the EPL-based forward smashed it home into the bottom corner.
Cracking finish.
Switzerland lead 2-0 after 46 minutes.
The Algerians lifted in the run-up to half-time linking passes together and creating a few shots on goal, sadly that were comfortably saved.
It will be interesting to see how expansive Switzerland are after the break or whether they knuckle down and try to hold out for a 1-0 win.
Embolo’s goal has them in front, but I reckon they will need at least one more goal.
We’ve reached drinks in Vancouver with Breel Embolo’s goal having his side ahead 1-0.
Algeria are playing quite a direct style and trying to loft some passes over the Swiss defence but they haven’t had much joy yet.
Switzerland have a pretty simple plan too, get the ball to Manzambi on the left and let him attack the defence – it worked for the first goal and still looks most likely to create a second one.
Switzerland 1-0 Algeria, 27 minutes
