{"id":493920,"date":"2026-06-24T23:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T23:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/493920\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T23:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T23:36:12","slug":"fifa-world-cup-switzerland-spoil-party-for-co-hosts-canada-to-top-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/493920\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifa World Cup: Switzerland spoil party for co-hosts Canada to top group"},"content":{"rendered":"

Switzerland will meet one of the best third-placed sides next week.<\/p>\n

Bosnia-Herzegovina wrapped up third in Group B thanks to a 3-1 win over Qatar<\/a> and will face an anxious wait to see if their four points are enough to extend their stay at the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Prior to kick-off, Canada midfielder Ismael Kone entered the pitch in a wheelchair after suffering a leg break in Canada\u2019s 6-0 demolition of Qatar<\/a> last week and was treated to a standing ovation by the spectators at BC Place Vancouver.<\/p>\n

Breel Embolo was presented with a golden chance to open the scoring for the Swiss after 10 minutes but could only fire straight at the goalkeeper before Manzambi struck the rebound into the chest of a defender.<\/p>\n

Fifa World Cup schedule and results<\/a><\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s first big opportunity to break the deadlock arrived just after the half-hour as striker Cyle Larin cut in on his right foot and tried to bend the ball beyond Gregor Kobel.<\/p>\n

The Swiss stopper was called into action again shortly before half-time as he dropped down to his right to palm a tame Ali Ahmed effort wide of his near post.<\/p>\n

After an entertaining first half, the match sparked into life seconds after the interval as Vargas gave Switzerland lift-off.<\/p>\n

A simple ball down the line released Manzambi, whose cross from the right evaded everyone until the 27-year-old popped up in acres of space at the back post and took an excellent first touch before rifling past Maxime Crepeau.<\/p>\n

Fifa World Cup standings<\/a><\/p>\n

Manzambi then put the cherry on a fine performance as he netted his third of the tournament on 57 minutes, profiting from some poor goalkeeping to squeeze in a right-footed shot after decent hold-up play on the edge of the box by Embolo.<\/p>\n

Canada boss Jesse Marsch responded by making three substitutions, including sending on LAFC midfielder Stephen Eustaquio.<\/p>\n

Jonathan David, who scored a hat-trick in Canada\u2019s last outing, turned sharply in the Swiss box and fired an effort at goal as the co-hosts tried to get a foot back in the match before the second hydration break, but Nico Elvedi flung himself in the ball\u2019s path.<\/p>\n

But moments after the three-minute break, Promise David, who had just entered the field, gave Canada hope as he stretched to turn in a sublime ball from Nathan Saliba.<\/p>\n

The goal set up a grandstand finish with a leveller for Canada certain to send them through as group winners.<\/p>\n

The Canadians came close from a couple of set-pieces at the match\u2019s climax but Switzerland held on to claim top spot.<\/p>\n

Go all in to unlock every Fifa World Cup 2026 match with a TVNZ+ Event Pass<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Switzerland will meet one of the best third-placed sides next week. Bosnia-Herzegovina wrapped up third in Group B…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2851,275,150592,10542,172374,36862,26663,2082,209,6628,247343,22946,247344,111,139,69,1523,4762,75700,131808,84972,213,15412,1769,61,1865,3010,247342,102,377],"class_list":["post-493920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-also","tag-canada","tag-cohosts","tag-cup","tag-ensured","tag-fifa","tag-fired","tag-for","tag-group","tag-historic","tag-johan","tag-knockout","tag-manzambi","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-over","tag-party","tag-rounds","tag-ruben","tag-spoil","tag-sports","tag-spot","tag-switzerland","tag-to","tag-today","tag-top","tag-vargas","tag-with","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}