In the final group stage games of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Brazil suffered their first defeat of the tournament by losing 1-0 to Cameroon, while Switzerland secured their place in the last 16 by beating Serbia 3-2 in a highly eventful fixture. This piece will provide a tactical analysis of the Switzerland vs Serbia game.
Switzerland struck first blood via Xherdan Shaqiri in the 20th minute.
Still, Serbia hit back not long after, first levelling the tie in the 26th minute via Aleksandar Mitrović and then going into the lead nine minutes later as Mitrović’s strike partner Dušan Vlahović tucked one away himself.
However, Serbia weren’t able to take that lead into half-time, as Switzerland struck once more before the midway break, with in-form Breel Embolo scoring his second goal of the tournament — for a comprehensive breakdown of the Swiss striker’s game, read our tactical analysis and scout report of Embolo at Monaco in Ligue 1 in 2022/23, published just before the World Cup, here at Total Football Analysis.
There was to be one more goal in the contest, and it went Switzerland’s way, as Remo Freuler scored just after the restart to put his team 3-2 up — a lead they’d go on to retain until the final whistle blew, securing their place in the round of 16 where they’re set to face off with Portugal.
To tell the tactical tale of this tie, we’ve split this piece up into three acts:
1. Early jostling sees Serbia settle into the lead
2. Switzerland break through Serbia’s attempted fortification
3. Switzerland held firm where Serbia faltered.
We hope that this piece provides a clear breakdown of the key tactics employed by both sides in this exciting contest while following how the changing game state influenced both teams’ respective tactical approaches.
Lineups
Firstly, let’s look at the lineups that both teams went for in this one. Starting with Serbia, Dragan Stojković lined his side up in a 3-4-1-2 shape with Vanja Milinković-Savić in goal behind right wing-back Andrija Živković, right centre-back Nikola Milenković, centre-back Miloš Veljković, left centre-back Strahinja Pavlović, and left wing-back Filip Kostić. Serbia went with Saša Lukić and Sergej Milinković-Savić in midfield behind Ajax number ‘10’ Dušan Tadić, who played just off of Vlahović and Mitrović.
Stojković made five changes during the contest to freshen up his starting XI. Firstly, we saw a double substitution in the 55th minute when Nemanja Gudelj replaced Veljković and Luka Jović took over from Vlahović. We saw Nemanja Maksimović replace Sergej Milinković-Savić 67 minutes into the tie, and Serbia completed their substitutions in the 78th minute with another double swap, as Nemanja Radonjić came on for Živković and Filip Đuričić took over from Tadić.
