Gregor Kobel Stars as Switzerland Set Up Blockbuster World Cup Quarter-Final Clash with the Reigning Champions

Gregor Kobel and Switzerland faced an uphill task in their Round of 16 fixture as they took on South American side Colombia for a spot in the Quarter Finals. With the crowd largely against them and the dynamic abilities of players such as Luis Diaz and James Rodriguez, the Swiss came into the game as the slight underdogs for this clash. This status was further reinforced when one of Switzerland’s star players, Ruben Vargas, wasn’t deemed fit enough to start this encounter and to take a place on the bench and star attacking midfielder Johan Manzambi was ruled out with a knee injury picked up in training, which was a huge blow for Gregor Kobel and the Swiss team. 

But the game commenced, and it was a cagey encounter, with quality in the final 3rd lacking for much of the game. However, as we entered extra time, with the score still 0-0, Columbia began to pile on the pressure, putting Gregor Kobel to work with the Borussia Dortmund keeper making some fine saves to keep the score level. Switzerland did enough defensively to get to penalties, and this offered the opportunity for Gregor Kobel to be the hero for his country.

Following two successful penalties each and one off-target penalty each, up steps Colombia for their 4th penalty. And Colombia’s Juan Hernandez tried to go for power to beat Gregor Kobel, but Dortmund’s Swiss wall was wise to it and dived to his right-hand side, getting a firm hand on the penalty and keeping the score at 2-2 in the penalty shootout. What followed were goals from Switzerland’s Cedric Itten and Ruben Vargas, either side of a composed finish from Luis Diaz, and that was enough to send Switzerland through to their first World Cup quarter-final since 1954.

After the game for his penalty save and 3 huge saves within the match, preventing an expected goals of 0.85, Gregor Kobel was awarded Man of the Match for his outstanding performance, showing on the world stage why he is Borussia Dortmund’s number one.

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This win has set up a huge game for Switzerland in Kansas City against the current reigning Champions of the World, Argentina. This will undoubtedly be a difficult clash for the Swiss, going into a stadium where not only are you underdogs on paper, but also the stadium will be largely in support of Argentina and their talisman, Lionel Messi.

But Switzerland have shown in this game against Columbia that even when their backs are to the wall and the crowd is largely against them, they are capable of finding answers and solutions, battling their way through games, and for Switzerland to progress into the semi finals of this World Cup, they will require all of their players, including Borussia Dortmund’s Gregor Kobel to step up and produce again, just like they have to get to this point in the tournament.

And perhaps Egypt, after their dramatic 3-2 loss to Argentina, have now shown everyone, including Switzerland, how you can cause Argentina problems, and the Swiss will be hoping they are able to take those learnings into their Quarter Final clash and cause an almighty upset in Kansas City.

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I believe that Switzerland and Gregor Kobel face a difficult task getting past Argentina in the quarter-finals. While they may have shown some cracks against Egypt, they also produced moments out of nothing and displayed to the world why they are the current holders of the World Cup. However, if Switzerland can take the lead and defend to an even higher level than they did against Colombia, then they can do what Egypt narrowly failed to do, cause a seismic upset and knock out Argentina.