World Cup 2018: 3 reasons why Switzerland lost to Sweden 

#2 Midfielders misfired

Xhaka failed to rise to the occasion

Vladimir Petković's game plan to deploy Granit Xhaka and Valon Behrami in different positions arguably turned out to be the worst decision of the match.

The skipper played in a deep role, almost as another central defender. He collected the ball at the back and played it around safely. He defended well in the box, made vital challenges and blocks and marshalled a solid back line. Well, that is not the issue.

This created two major problems for the men in red and white in other aspects. Firstly, the entire midfield had to be covered by Xhaka, who isn't the most reliable. When the ball was played to Forsberg, Xhaka aimlessly took a step forward and then realized he wasn't getting there. Not many would have noticed, but that is what led to the goal. He picked up a silly yellow card too, for a needless challenge.

Secondly, the fact that they didn't work together meant that the goal-scoring chances were cut short. Neither did they combine to close down spaces, nor did they thread the best of passes around the park. This caused their front men to drop deeper and ask for the ball in order to carry the attack forward.

As a result, creativity was hard to come by for this bunch of players.