Known for its strong defensive system, Switzerland saw all its tradition of conceding few goals collapse in the elimination of the Cup in Qatar.
Resorting to a comparison that fits perfectly in the situation, the rear of the team looked like Swiss cheese against Portugal, with so many holes it had.
The 6-1 defeat was the biggest suffered by Switzerland in World Cups.
In the previous 40 matches, played in 12 editions (including the current one), the worst defeat had been a 5-0 against West Germany, in the first phase of the 1966 World Cup, in England.
In addition, the six goals that Gonçalo Ramos and company scored at the Lusail stadium came close to the seven that the Swiss conceded in the 1954 World Cup. At home, Switzerland lost in the quarterfinals by 7-5 to Austria.
The only other time Switzerland have conceded more than three goals in a World Cup game was in 2014, in Brazil, when they lost 5-2 to France.
The Swiss fame of insurmountable defense owes a lot to the performances in the 2006 Cups, in Germany, and 2010, in South Africa. In those two World Cups, he played seven games and conceded a single goal.
From 2014 onwards, however, the defense worked poorly.
Only in 2 of 12 matches, in three World Cups, Switzerland left the field without being leaked, and the average of goals against in the clashes in which the ball entered is little respectable, 2.1 per game.
After the match, midfielder Shaqiri apologized to the Swiss fans for the historic defeat.
“We are all disappointed, the whole team. We have to apologize to the fans in Switzerland. We were not in our best form today and we lost the game in the first half to Portugal, who are a very good team. You saw the types of goals they scored. they are capable of scoring. We have to learn from our mistakes”, said the player, born in Kosovo, who later analyzed Portugal.
“If you are behind on the scoreboard against Portugal it is very difficult to recover. Even before the World Cup Portugal was already one of the favorites for the title, but we have to see how far it will go. In attack they are very good”, he concluded.
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