VANCOUVER — Goalkeeper Gregor Kobel was the hero for Switzerland as he pulled off a stunning penalty shootout save to break Colombian hearts and secure a historic place in the World Cup quarter-finals.
The Borussia Dortmund keeper brilliantly pushed away a decisive spot-kick from Colombia’s Cucho Hernandez, sending the Swiss through 4-3 on penalties after a tense last-16 tie at BC Place in Vancouver ended goalless.
The dramatic victory means Murat Yakin’s resilient side have reached the last eight of the World Cup for the first time since 1954. They now face a daunting quarter-final clash against reigning champions Argentina at the Kansas City Stadium on Sunday, 12 July.
Shootout drama
A cagey 120 minutes of football gave way to high drama in the shootout, which saw centre-backs from both sides fail to convert early on.
Colombia’s Davinson Sanchez rattled the underside of the crossbar, but former Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji immediately let the South Americans off the hook by skying his subsequent effort high into the Vancouver stands.
However, Kobel stepped up to deliver the game’s defining moment, showing superb reflexes to deny Hernandez. Cedric Itten and Ruben Vargas then held their nerve from the spot, adding to earlier successful penalties from captain Granit Xhaka and Zeki Amdouni to seal the historic win.
Missed opportunities
The penalty lottery followed a largely uneventful 90 minutes of regulation time in which both tactical setups cancelled each other out, with clear-cut chances at a premium.
The match finally threatened to burst into life during the first period of extra time. Colombia came agonizingly close to breaking the deadlock when Jhon Lucumi’s towering header from a corner struck the woodwork. Moments later, an unorthodox save from Kobel was required to keep out a venomous, long-range drive from Colombian substitute Jaminton Campaz.
Campaz should have won the match outright for Colombia in the dying moments of extra time. Capitalizing on a rare, uncharacteristic defensive blunder by Xhaka, the midfielder found himself in space but curled his shot wastefully over the bar.
It was a costly miss that Colombia would live to regret. The defeat inflicts familiar World Cup shootout heartbreak on the South Americans, mirroring their painful last-16 exit at the hands of England on penalties in 2018.
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