Switzerland 2 - Ecuador 1

Photo by Phil Walter

The capital city Brasilia finally hosted it first match of Brasil 2014, the Group E opener between Switzerland and Ecuador. Both teams appeared to dedicate the opening minutes to acclimatizing themselves to the atmosphere of a FIFA World Cup finals. Ecuador seemed readier earlier. The only offense Switzerland were mustering came from right back Stephan Lichtsteiner. However, Lichtsteiner was guilty of a decisive foul near his own area when beaten by Jefferson Montero. Walter Ayovi sent in a short side-of-the-box free kick over the two-man wall and into the Swiss six-yard box. For some reason, absolutely no defender made the run with Enner Valencia (pictured, blue), who then finished an easy point blank header to put Ecuador ahead 1-0. Johan Djourou (pictured, red) appeared to be most at fault on the play as he pulled out of Valencia's area as the ball came. Ecuador were ahead 1-0 after the first forty-five.

Switzerland pulled even early in the second half. Ricardo Rodriguez misplaced his corner kick for Switzerland. He was aiming for the runners in the box, but his ball straightened out. Luckily for him, Admir Mehmedi was paying attention even though his job was merely to provide traffic in front of the goalkeeper. The ball came to Mehmedi, and he held off his marker, Ecuadorian centerback Jorge Guagua to nod the equalizer into the goal. The Swiss looked to have nudged ahead through a goal with just over twenty minutes left in the game. However, Josip Drmic was called offside on the play because it seemed that Granit Xhaka had made a touch on the pass, but replays showed that Xhaka in fact hopped completely over the ball. Drmic was onside when the initial pass was released, but his goal was disallowed. Ecuador nearly nosed back in front when Valencia beat Switzerland goalkeeper Diego Benaglio to a ball twenty-one yards away from goal, but Steven von Bergen in defense for Switzerland cleared the mess away. Both teams were going for glory in stoppage time. Ecuador were caught with too many men up the pitch when Valon Behrami tackled Michael Arroyo in the Swiss box and then broke off on a last-minute countreract. Behrami take a hard tackle at midfield and got up to keep running. The referee played advantage, giving Behrami a chance to pass to Rodriguez up the field. Rodriguez flew down the left side of the pitch and picked out the run of Haris Seferovic to the near post. The ball evaded the only two men defending on the break, so Seferovic popped an easy finish into the roof of the net. Switzerland win the match 2-1 in this most dramatic of finishes to claim the full three points.

Goals
Switzerland
Admir Mehmedi 48
Haris Seferovic 90+3

Ecuador
Enner Valencia 22

Match Reports:
http://soccer.si.com/planet-futbol/2014/06/15/switzerland-ecuador-world-cup-commentary-recap-group-e
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2014/m=6/news=schweizer-siegermentalitat-von-der-bank-2372800-2373038.html

Highlights:
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/videos/highlights/match=300186494/index.html