World Cup 2018: 3 things Serbia did wrong in defeat to Switzerland

In a tournament first, Switzerland fought back from a goal down to beat Serbia and boost their hopes of a World Cup last 16 berth.

Aleksander Mitrovic headed the White Eagles ahead inside 5 minutes from close range, but a belter from Granit Xhaka and a late strike from Xherdan Shaqiri turned the tables around.

Serbia were well off the pace in the second half and the defeat has now thrown a spanner in their works. They'll now have to take points off Brazil in the final game, which is an extremely tall order, and also hope Costa Rica do them a favour.

Here's what Serbia did wrong in the defeat.

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#1 Failing to build on the momentum

Serbia receded in the second half

With a goal inside 5 minutes of the game's commencement, Serbia made an ideal start. It was the perfect tonic needed to boost hopes of progressing after winning their first game. The White Eagles looked to be in control for sometime thereafter, and successfully kept the Swiss at arm’s length at half-time.

But the latter turned the screw after the break. Switzerland were the brighter of the two sides and it looked only a matter of time before they clawed their way back. And so it happened, just 8 minutes after the restart. Xhaka’s volley was a piece of pure quality, but Serbia appeared frazzled after that.

The defense looked shaky while the pressing got too desperate to find something. Mitrovic was the only one to have truly tested the Swiss in that period, and should’ve won a penalty when he was brought down inside the area during a corner kick.

Serbia’s momentum petered out by the end of the match and a lapse in concentration at the back allowed Shaqiri to run clear and seal the winner.

#2 Relying too much on the old guard

Ivanovic was a busy man

Serbia’s defense is one of the oldest in the competition. The back four of Kolarov, Ivanovic, Milenkovic and Tosic all have a combined total of over 300 international caps among themselves.

Whilst this brought plenty of experience in the defense, a relatively slower pace was the issue. Save for Kolarov, who provided a spark with his energetic run down the flanks, the rest of the defense looked nervy and off-the-pace when the Swiss pressed high.

Ivanovic in particular was under the cosh and made some heart-stopping clearances that conceded cheap corners. One of those almost ended up in his own net as Serbia for one hot second feared falling back with an own goal.

Milenkovic and Tosic were in no man’s land for large spells of the second-half, found constantly out of position and left the former Chelsea stalwart to do most of the dirty work.

Serbia lacked proper communication at the back and were thrown in a tizzy whenever the Swiss tried to break on the counter.

#3 The defense abandoning their position

There was nobody to deal with Shaqiri's run

With the game almost sewn up, Switzerland made one last ditch effort to turn the match around. Gavranovic collected the ball near the halfway line and despite being surrounded by a horde of red shirts, found space to lay a defense splitting pass for an on-rushing Shaqiri who bombed forward and killed the game by nudging the ball under Sommer.

The problem here was, barring Tosic, the rest of the back-line abandoned their position and went too far ahead. So when Gavranovic put the Stoke City man clear, they had a lot of ground to cover which they obviously couldn’t, leaving Tosic to deal with Shaqiri alone.

And even though the 31-year old was along the defensive lines, he was some distance away from Shaqiri on the right and by the time he could catch up with him, the latter released the ball to leave a distraught Tosic in a heap on the floor.

This one moment of defensive error cost Serbia the match. And going forward, maybe even a place in the last 16.