Switzerland End 88-Year World Cup Curse as Embolo & Ndoye winner score Sink Algeria in round of 32.

Switzerland stormed into the FIFA World Cup Round of 16 after a dominant 2-0 victory over Algeria, ending an 87-year wait for a World Cup knockout win.

Breel Embolo opened the scoring in the 10th minute after a brilliant assist from 20-year-old sensation Johan Manzambi, before Dan Ndoye doubled the lead just 46 seconds into the second half, leaving Algeria with no way back.

Algeria created few clear chances, with Gregor Kobel comfortably denying their best effort as the Swiss controlled the match from start to finish.

The victory marks Switzerland's first World Cup knockout triumph since 1938 and secures a place in the last 16 for the fourth consecutive tournament. They will now face the winner of Colombia vs Ghana for a place in the quarter-finals.

Manzambi continued his breakout tournament with another assist, becoming the youngest player since 1966 to be directly involved in five World Cup goals, further cementing his status as one of Europe's brightest rising stars.

Switzerland 2-0 Algeria match final score, stats, Facts, records

Switzerland have won their three all-time matches against African opposition in the FIFA World Cup, all without conceding a single goal. The other two wins were against Togo in 2006 (2-0) and against Cameroon in 2022 (1-0).

Switzerland broke a run of seven straight knockout matches in the FIFA World Cup without a victory (1D 6L). The last time they had recorded a win in such circumstances was in 1938 (4-2 against Germany in a Round 1 replay).

The victory was Switzerland’s third at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. This marks the first time Switzerland has won three or more matches at a single edition of the FIFA World Cup.

At 20 years and 261 days old, Johan Manzambi is the youngest player to reach five goal involvements (three goals, two assists) at a FIFA World Cup on record (since 1966).

Algeria had 56% of the possession against Switzerland, having more possession that their opponent in all four of their matches in the 2026 edition of the FIFA World Cup. Never before had the Desert Foxes ended a single tournament with a higher possession in all of their matches.

Excluding own goals, Dan Ndoye’s goal was the fastest goal in a second half of a FIFA World Cup knockout match (45:46) since Davor Suker’s goal for Croatia against France in the semi-finals in 1998 (45:25).

Breel Embolo scored his fourth goal for Switzerland in the FIFA World Cup. Only Josef Hügi (6) and Xherdan Shaqiri (5) have scored more for the team.

Breel Embolo scored his third opening goal in a match in the FIFA World Cup, the highest number for a Swiss player in the competition.

At 35 years and 131 days old, Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez became the second-oldest African player to start a FIFA World Cup knockout stage match, after Senegal’s Idrissa Gueye (36 years, 278 days) against Belgium in the Round of 32 of the current tournament.

Stats Opta

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