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Adam Chabukiani: Defying All Odds

The story of a young Georgian refugee, born through the chaos of the Abkhazia War to find his feet in the footballing world.
Started on 5 October 2015 by Jack
Latest Reply on 5 July 2019 by Justice
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After an OK showing in the league with two wins and one draw, we did lose to Chelsea to a crushing 4-0 defeat which severely hurt morale heading up to the Europa League fixtures against Sporting. Our European adventure ended narrowly as we were knocked out on away goals to Sporting Lisbon as the tie ended 4-4 on aggregate. However we advance forwards in the FA Cup after a superb 6-0 win over Hull City in the 5th Round Replay.























We keep on rising up the table despite that 4-0 loss to Chelsea as we move into eighth place in the Premier League. We are still focused on achieving a Europa League spot but with four games left, the gap keeps on closing. At the top, Manchester United have overtaken Chelsea to take top spot on 73 points. At the bottom however, it seems inevitable now that Huddersfield will be relegated this season along with possibly Swansea as West Ham fight to survive in the top flight.





In his first ever Player of the Month award, Tom Ince has really impressed me despite the winger not being as reputable as the other players in the team. He has made a huge impact on our team this season and particularly this month with goals and assists to his name adding onto his season total of 14 goals and 11 assists.

Well well well just look at your side recovering from an earlier blip! Loving the story as always mate
2016-07-30 21:53#235870 BeanyUnited : Well well well just look at your side recovering from an earlier blip! Loving the story as always mate
We've certainly picked up our form this month! We're starting to look good :)




As we finish April, it was a shameful month as we picked up four points in a nine-point month. True, we did play Manchester City but to only get a point at Selhurst Park against Palace isn't what I like to see. We were finally knocked out of the FA Cup in the Quarter-Final by league leaders Manchester United at Old Trafford.















The results this month lead to a very dramatic ending for the final day. With the final Europa League spot flung wide open for us, we will face Everton on the final day - the team who currently sit in the Europa League spot that we are chasing. Newcastle and Tottenham could also challenge for the spot during the final day however. If Manchester United can win their next league match against Stoke it should leave an easy ride to the title on the final day against Burnley. At the bottom of the league, all teams have been confirmed relegated as West Ham, Swansea and Huddersfield all depart the Premier League for the second tier.





Despite the £8M signing of Callum Slattery being heavily understated due to the hefty arrival of record transfer Alfred Duncan, Slattery is really proving his own worth particularly this month. With one assist and several hard-working performances against all four teams, Slattery deserved the award of Player of the Month for us the most.






Switzerland manager Adam Chabukiani has announced his World Cup preliminary squad for the 2022 tournament in Morocco.

As the competition begins next month starting with the Morocco versus Colombia game on the 10th June, all participating nations are required to register their squad today.

Switzerland have been placed in Group G alongside Argentina, Guinea and Mexico with Argentina and Switzerland expected to qualify for the next round. The Swiss FA have also outlined that they expect to reach at least the Second Round of the World Cup.

Switzerland played the United States in an international friendly back in March as the fixture finished 1-1 in Switzerland at the AFG Arena with Xherdan Shaqiri bagging Switzerland's only goal.

They have still got friendlies against Ivory Coast and Brazil coming up in May before the tournament starts and they start their campaign against Mexico at Morocco's Complexe Sportife de Fés which holds 45,000 spectators.

But today Chabukiani announced his 30-man preliminary squad for the competition. Switzerland supporters have been left somewhat bemused at Chabukiani's inclusion of Marco Schonbachler, with many claiming that he offers very little to the squad, and with so much at stake in this competition, his place should have gone to somebody more likely to make an impact.

Uncapped right-back Kevin Fournier, along with Loris Benito and Phil Koch are surprise inclusions, given their lack of international experience. The focus on the squad seems to definitely be on foreign-based players with Chabukiani picking the majority of his players from overseas.

Argentinian-born central midfielder Daniel Bertrand, who is eligible for Switzerland, is named in the squad and could make his first appearance for his new nation on the world stage. The media campaign to include Kevin Fournier in the squad seems to have paid off with fans and pundits excited to see what the player can add to the Swiss squad.

Chabukiani is said to be happy with his selection and claims to have 'no regrets' about the chosen players and is also excited to see how far his Switzerland team can go in the World Cup as his Bradford Park Avenue challenge for Europa League qualification in the Premier League.

Switzerland World Cup preliminary squad:

Goalkeepers: Roman Bürki, Yvon Mvogo, Yann Sommer.

Defenders: Loris Benito, Berat Djimsiti, Kevin Fournier, Ulisses Garcia, Phil Koch, Michel Morganella, Ricardo Rodríguez, Fabian Schär, Silvan Widmer.

Midfielders: Leonardo Bertone, Daniel Bertrand, Patjim Kasami, Kerim Frei, Stéphane Pires, Heiri Richoz, Marco Schönbächler, Xherdan Shaqiri, Djibril Sow, Renato Steffen, Valentin Stocker, Granit Xhaka.

Attackers: Romario Çela, Josip Drmic, Breel Embolo, Admir Mehmedi, Xhevdet Sefa.




Hello and welcome to today's FM Scout Sports coverage of today's final day fixture between Everton FC and Bradford Park Avenue.

It's been a very entertaining season for any team this time around, but for the teams towards the bottom they have nothing to play for today.

Over in Manchester, The Citizens will be dreaming of a repeat of 2014 where they stole the title from dear rivals Manchester United in the last minute courtesy of Sergio Aguero. They trail their cross-town rivals by three points today with The Red Devils looking like the favourites for this years Premier League title.

However the match we are covering today is the 7th vs 8th place tie as Adam Chabukiani's Bradford PA chase Europa League football for the second season in a row as they are two points away from today's opponents Everton. Newcastle and Tottenham will also be chasing the same place today.

Bradford Park Avenue are the favourites today according to Sky Bet who have them placed at Evens, with a draw or Everton win at 11-5. Past meetings between the clubs have been even, with Everton winning one, Bradford PA winning one and the clubs drawing a game. Their most recent encounter came in December as Everton ran out 3-2 winners at The Avenue.

The lineups are in for both sides now:
Everton FC: D. Quirke (GK), S. Roberto, F. Cardoso, Nacho, A. Adnan, O. Lewicki, G. Zelalem, R. Mahrez, Ricardinho, D. Suárez, V. Berisha (4-2-3-1).

Bradford PA: Y. Sommer, K. Miller, N. Elvedi, J. Montenegro, F. Alcalá, A. Duncan, M. Young-Hoon, A. Halilovic, R. Cabella, T. Ince, D. Braña (4-2-3-1).


Chabukiani is heavily in luck with today's fixture as Everton miss top scorer Benik Afobe, top assister Gokhan Tore, first-choice keeper Kim Seung-Gyu and vice-captain James McCarthy. Ben Blackmore misses out today's game through injury.

Keith Miller will wear the captains armband today for Bradford PA as he shakes hands with the opponents and the officials for today's match. Domingo Braña kicks off the game for his team.

1': Braña rolls the ball to Rémy Cabella to kick off the match here at Goodison Park. Joan Montenegro wins a free-kick at the halfway line and the Argentinian international is set to take the set-piece with many men in front of him. He decides to play the pass short to Alfred Duncan.

Min Young-Hoon is absolutely clattered here by Ricardinho, and the attacking midfielder could be in big trouble here... It's a red card!!! Everton are down to ten men in the first minute of the match after a two-footed tackle by Ricardinho! Veton Berisha comes off as substitute in the first minute as Spanish striker Javier Calvo replaces him.

12': Bradford captain Keith Miller is to take the throw-in deep in Everton territory. The ball is cleared on the volley up to Everton's Calvo who is isolated up top after Ricardinho's dismissal.

Calvo overruns the ball and Nico Elvedi clears the ball out left as Tom Ince chases it down to latch onto the clearance. Ince beats Roberto to the ball over on the left, with lots of space to charge into here. He crosses but Zelalem clears to Mahrez. Alcalá wins the ball back as Duncan turns to try and find Ince again. Sergi Roberto cuts it out and tries to pass it back to Quirke... But the pass is too short and Domingo Braña can get a shot away! GOAL! Domingo Braña with his 24th goal of the season!!! Bradford lead Everton at Goodison Park after 12 minutes!!! Shocking defending there!

26': Roberto has a throw-in on the near side in the Bradford half. Calvo tries to cross but it's deflected back to Roberto by Alcalá. Lewicki completes the one-two with Roberto as it's passed into Riyad Mahrez... Javier Calvo!!! GOAL! Everton have equalised through their super-sub Javier Calvo!! It's all square in the big one now!

34': Alfred Duncan marches through the middle of the field. It's given short to Cabella who has room to turn... What a pass that is over to Alen Halilovic!!! The Croatian controls the ball in the box now... Penalty!! Ali Adnan brings down Halilovic in the area!! It's a chance for Avenue to restore their lead here.

As the protests are waved away by the referee and his assistant on the far side, Alen Halilovic picks up the ball, he looks like he will take it after being the victim of Adnan's foul. He plants the ball down on the spot. He lines himself up for a left-footed shot... He steps up... GOAL!!! Alen Halilovic calmly places the ball into the bottom left corner with ease, sending Quirke completely the wrong way! A perfect penalty and Bradford Park Avenue regain their one-goal lead!

39': Suárez looks to whip in a corner for Everton now. Duncan heads the ball to safety as Suárez repossesses the ball further behind now. A cross field pass finds Mahrez... The Algerian has played a perfect one-touch pass through to Calvo... What a tackle by Montenegro!! That is a £30million tackle right there from the Argentine! Mahrez has the ball again on the near side, whips one in... Finds Calvo... GOAL!! Javier Calvo has netted again for The Toffees and it's 2-2 now! What a cracker this is now!

43': It's Halilovic's turn to whip one in from the corner now for Bradford. It's inswinging to the near post... Duncan's there!!! GOAL!!! Alfred Duncan has found the net!!! A simple tap in has never been so valuable to Bradford!! It's 3-2 to Bradford now - they never stop!

45+2': It's half-time here at Goodison Park and what a match it has been here in Merseyside. Bradford Park Avenue currently hold that all important seventh place as they lead Everton by three goals to two at the break thanks to a sensational performance by Alen Halilovic. Not to mention the marvelous exploits of substitute Javier Calvo who has bagged both of Everton's goals in this one.

46': Everton kick off the second half for us here at their home of Goodison Park. They are currently trailing by one goal to Chabukiani's Bradford PA.

61': There's plenty of changes here at the turn of the hour mark now. Ryan Bertrand and Seamus Coleman replace Ali Adnan and Gedion Zelalem for Everton. Xhevdet Sefa comes on for Bradford's goalscorer Domingo Braña.

63': Calvo takes a free-kick near the halfway line for Everton. It's passed short to Ryan Bertrand on the left hand side. Bertrand sends a beautiful switch over to Riyad Mahrez now! It's squared to Javier Calvo!!!! GOAL!!! Javier Calvo has gotten his hat-trick for the game! Brilliant build-up play by Everton and what a fantastic performance it has been from Calvo! It's 3-3 now!

75': Time keeps on ticking down for Bradford PA as Alen Halilovic lines up a cross into the box from the free-kick. Lewicki heads it clear as Mahrez passes back to Quirke. Quirke boots it... GOAL!!! What a complete fluke of a goal!!! Alen Halilovic has blocked the goalkeepers clearance and it has rolled into the net!! What a complete shambles by the Everton 'keeper! Unbelievable scenes here as Bradford lead 4-3!

82': Quirke boots it clear from his goal-kick. Montenegro heads it before it reaches Calvo. Duncan passes back to Elvedi before its out to Halilovic. Halilovic tries to switch the ball but Coleman wins it and passes back to Quirke. Suárez is in loads of space now. Calvo tries to find Roberto but Cabella picks off the pass and finds Tom Ince out on the left making a run. Ince locates Sefa in the middle and he has plenty of options here... It's threaded through to Min Young-Hoon... GOAL!! Min Young-Hoon!!! The Korean midfielder has scored for Bradford Park Avenue! It's 5-3 now at Goodison Park, with eight minutes left it will take a miracle to restore this match now!

89': Yann Sommer plays it short from the goal-kick. It's Elvedi here who powers a ball out right to Halilovic. Halilovic cuts inside cleverly and passes it to Min Young-Hoon. A superb pass back out right finds Bradford captain Keith Miller in a ton of space. Miller volleys the ball into the danger area... GOAL!! Xhevdet Sefa has put the tie beyond all doubt here... It's 6-3 to Bradford Park Avenue! What a match this has been! A classic Sefa header in the 89th minute!

90+1': Xhevdet Sefa fires in possibly his last shot of the game.. Held by Darren Quirke... And that's it! Full-time over at Goodison Park as Bradford Park Avenue confirm that they will be playing in the Europa League next season as they parade around the away end at Goodison Park. What a match this has been! A sending off and nine goals, with so, so much at stake!

That's all from us here at FM Scout Sport! See you next time around!




So that is that for the club season! We finish the season in a crazy style as shown live on TV with a 6-3 victory over Everton to steal their Europa League qualification. This means that we will enter the tournament in the Third Qualifying Stage which means we will have to win that game and then win a Play-Off match to achieve a Group Stage place. Manchester United finished as champions of England as they only needed one point on the final day. In the Europa League, SL Benfica won the competition meanwhile Man City and Man United won the FA Cup and Capital One Cup respectively.













As seen before and now, we stole Everton's Europa League spot as The Toffees slipped down to 10th place as a result of the final day bashing at our hands. At the top of the table came Manchester United as champions of the country by a single point in the end. Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea rounded off the top four Champions League qualifiers. Huddersfield Town, Swansea City and West Ham United were all unfortunately succumbed to the drop down into the Championship by quite a long way.





A shining light for us all season. Nobody comes close to winning Player of the Season other than Rémy Cabella. The French player was the ultimate midfielder for us and to say he was bought for free last season and has put in two excellent seasons, it has turned out to be my best buy, second to only Matthew Fletcher in the best all-time signings. Cabella brings an equilibrium of goalscoring and creative ability and is always involved in many goals for the team. I can definitely see myself keeping the attacking midfielder beyond this transfer window.

Well done for a stunning win away at Everton mate well done!!!





Renato Steffen has kicked off Switzerland's World Cup campaign marvelously as they run out 5-0 winners over Mexico in their first fixture of the tournament.

With Colombia defeating the hosts Morocco 5-2 in the first game and a shock win for Japan against Spain in Group A, Serbia and England leading the way in Group D it was time for the Swiss to step up - and they really, really did.

Adam Chabukiani's team recorded the biggest win of the tournament this far as a Renato Steffen hat-trick led Switzerland to the top of Group G.

The game began in Switzerland's favour as Renato Steffen rounded the Mexico goalkeeper before Diego Reyes, the Mexican centre-back raced in for the tackle as he won the ball, but accidentally turned the ball into his own net in doing so.

So after one minute, the game was already in the Swiss' favour with Chabukiani's boys holding a 1-0 lead thanks to Diego Reyes' own goal.

It wasn't long before Switzerland doubled their lead against Mexico with Renato Steffen involved in another goal for his team. With Silvan Widmer whipping in a fantastic cross from the right wing, Steffen leaped up to nod the cross into the back of the net to make it 2-0 to Switzerland.

Chabukiani had to wait until just before the half-time whistle before his team bagged their third of the match, once again through Renato Steffen. Embolo received the ball deep inside his own half before passing the ball to Xherdan Shaqiri. As Sefa ran onto a lobbed through ball down the middle, the Bradford PA striker dinked a pass to the onrushing Steffen who hit the ball first time on the volley as it raced past the helpless 'keeper.

Then it was down to midfielder Patjim Kasami to score the goal of the tournament so far. Silvan Widmer raced down the wing before laying a pass off to Breel Embolo, involved in yet another goal. Embolo laid the ball off to the former Fulham midfielder Kasami. The central midfielder took one touch before blasting a sensational strike from 35 yards out which scorched past the helpless Gudino.

The final goal came in the 80th minute as Renato Steffen completed his hat-trick. As Kerim Frei and Silvan Widmer played a one-two between them Widmer - one of Switzerland's best performers in recent months - crossed in another one with his left foot. The cross met Breel Embolo at the near post as the small forward flicked the ball on with his head to the far post where Steffen was able to meet the flick-on with a half volley inside the six-yard box to make it 5-0.

This performance from Renato Steffen puts him at the head of the top scorers list with three goals, one more than England's Raheem Sterling and Morocco's Nabil Alioui.

In the other result in Group G, Argentina faced predicted whipping boys Guinea and despite the African side putting up a good fight against the South American's, they were no match for Argentina as they fell down to a 2-0 defeat with Roberto Pereyra and Erik Lamela grabbing the goals for Argentina.

Switzerland will face Argentina in their next World Cup fixture on the 19th June before facing Guinea in the last Group Stage match at Stade du Prince Moulay Abdullah.
2016-07-31 17:45#235908 BeanyUnited : Well done for a stunning win away at Everton mate well done!!!
Thanks mate, it was certainly an exciting match! Europa League once again next season though ;)




A flawless Group Stage where Switzerland didn't concede a single goal has resulted in one of the toughest Second Round draws in the 2022 World Cup.

Without a shadow of a doubt, the Swiss have been the most impressive team throughout the entire Group Stage phase. La Nati ran out victorious in every single match against Mexico, Argentina and Guinea.

Their campaign began with a 5-0 win over Mexico thanks to a hat-trick from Renato Steffen and the current goal of the tournament by Patjim Kasami.

The morale from the thrashing of the Central American team carried on into the next fixture against Argentina where a cheeky Xhevdet Sefa chip over the goalkeeper Rulli stunned the world as Switzerland ran out 1-0 winners on 19th June.

The final game didn't have much importance to Chabukiani as his team had already qualified for the next round as they faced Guinea in their last Group Stage game. Guinea had lost to both Argentina and Mexico and were at the bottom of the Group with no points. However Switzerland showed no mercy to the African newcomers as they demolished them 4-0. Xhevdet Sefa scored a hat-trick of his own as Renato Steffen put his fourth of the tournament on the board.

This means that Switzerland go into the Second Round of the World Cup as winners of Group G, with Argentina following behind in 2nd place with six points.

In other groups, there weren't too many shocks apart from the qualifiers from Groups B and C. In Group B, Holland won the group unsurprisingly, however Algeria managed to steal 2nd place away from Brazil and Russia, with Brazil losing to Algeria 1-0 in their opening game!

In Group C, Denmark ran out as the winners of the group, however Asian side Iran managed to steal a place in the Second Round ahead of Ivory Coast and Poland!

Another slight shock perhaps is that Austria managed to defeat Germany and take top spot in Group H much to the dismay of their Central European neighbours.

The draw for the Second Round has already taken place, though. Perhaps the most exciting tie in the round has to be the fixture taking place between France and Italy or maybe even the U.S.A versus Belgium.

However Switzerland have a very menacing challenge put before them, as they are set to face Christian Streich's Germany in the Second Round of the World Cup. Despite the Germans' loss to Austria, they still won against both Uruguay and Jamaica. The national team boasts household names such as Real Madrid's Felix Seibert and Dortmund's Dardan Taci and Ryan Koniver.

Adam Chabukiani will have to plan out a perfect game plan if he wants his inferior Swiss side to challenge the mighty Germans, who have won the World Cup four times before, in comparison to Switzerland's best performances in the competition being to reach the Quarter-Finals three times: 1934, 1938 and 1954.

La Nati's main striker Xhevdet Sefa has proclaimed that he and the rest of the squad are confident about facing Germany in the next round, claiming that the morale of the team right now is almost unbeatable.





Adam Chabukiani has led his Switzerland team to a historic World Cup win as Patjim Kasami led his home nation to a 2-0 win against Germany.

After lots of discussion regarding the mountain that Switzerland had to climb to beat Germany, Chabukiani has actually done it.

The last time that La Nati had defeated Germany in a major competition was well back in 1938 when Andre Abegglen scored a brace in a 4-2 victory against Germany.

However the last time that Switzerland defeated Germany in any form of match-up was ten years ago in 2012 when Eren Derdiyok netted a hat-trick at St Jakob's Park as Switzerland ran out 5-3 winners in an international friendly.

But today's result possibly means the most of all time to Swiss fans. In a packed out stadium in Laayoune, another immense Patjim Kasami goal shocked the footballing world.

It would be fair to say that Germany dominated the play in the first half with eight shots on goal to Switzerland's mere two. However, the fortunes changed in the second half.

Breel Embolo had taken a free-kick at the halfway line in the 50th minute. The Barcelona forward passed it short to Chabukiani's favourite Nico Elvedi. Elvedi found Granit Xhaka. Xhaka passed the ball out wide to Kevin Fournier - who has made his international debut this World Cup - the right-back found that Patjim Kasami was open in the middle. As the ball arrived to the Olympiakos midfielder, the player chipped the ball up to himself before unleashing yet another fantastic, long-range shot on goal. The ball raced past the German 'keeper from 25 yards out, almost a complete replica of his goal against Mexico in the Group Stage.

As time ticked on in the second half of the match, Germany were becoming increasingly worried of their future in the tournament. The final nail in the coffin arrived in the 87th minute, though.

Fournier passed the ball inside to Breel Embolo who was playing attacking midfield in this one. Breel Embolo tore the Germany defence to pieces with an inch-perfect pass to Xherdan Shaqiri. The winger raced past Rudi Bitterich to reach the pass. Shaqiri cut inside from the right wing before placing a beautiful shot past Pfahler which struck the post before finding the net to make the score 2-0 and putting the victory beyond all doubt.

The Quarter-Final draw has put Switzerland up against Belgium in the next round, which is Switzerland's joint best performance in the World Cup after reaching the Quarter-Finals in 1934, 1938 and 1954. Belgium beat the U.S.A 2-0 in their Second Round fixture with Romelu Lukaku bagging both goals in the tie.





Switzerland have continued their marvelous World Cup campaign under Adam Chabukiani and have made it all the way into the Semi-Finals with a win over Belgium.

Chabukiani does it with Bradford Park Avenue and then he goes and does it with Switzerland. He has taken La Nati from the depths of international mediocrity and has taken them all the way into the 2022 World Cup Semi-Finals.

With Chabukiani's zero to hero reputation ever growing, it's now time to understand what went on in the match.

Despite not having the luxury of possession, the Swiss used their time on the ball to scramble in as many shots as possible in on Thibaut Courtois in this Quarter-Final tie. Switzerland took up 48% of the match possession but fired in 24 shots on the Belgian goal.

The game started well for the Swiss in the first half. They opened the scoring in the 17th minute of the match with Xhevdet Sefa bagging his fifth goal of the tournament and staking his claim for the Golden Boot for this World Cup.

With a long throw in to Fabian Schar from Kevin Fournier in his own half, the ball was played around the midfield until it was given to Breel Embolo inside the center circle. The attacking midfielder tried to go Route One firstly, it was headed away by Alderweireld but Embolo retook possession. Embolo laid a through ball for Sefa who was playing off the shoulder of Alderweireld before placing a shot across Courtois which found the bottom left corner.

The game remained quiet until twenty minutes into the second half when Adnan Januzaj scored an equaliser for Belgium in the 66th minute.

As Januzaj cleared a cross from his own penalty area which reached Eden Hazard out on the right, he began his march upfield. Hazard sent a long ball over the head of Rodríguez which found Divock Origi up front on his own. Origi played a pass back to the oncoming full-back Labrousse who sent a cross into the Swiss penalty area. Adnan Januzaj was there to meet it with an elegant scissor-kick volley which almost ripped the net!

No more goals were scored in normal or extra-time, despite chances coming both ways in that period of time. As the 120th minute came, the referee called for a penalty shootout.

Eden Hazard stepped up first for Belgium. He went straight down the middle and failed to fool the Swiss 'keeper Roman Burki.

Switzerland's regular penalty-taker Fabian Schar then stepped up, expecting to score. However Thibaut Courtois got the better of the defender and tipped wide a shot heading for the bottom right hand corner.

Divock Origi stepped up after being heavily involved in Belgium's equaliser. Like Hazard, Origi went straight down the middle, and again, Burki stayed put to hold the ball.

In-demand striker Xhevdet Sefa brushed off all of the pressure surrounding him regarding transfer rumours and the penalty put before him to coolly slot in the first goal of the penalty shootout, even though Courtois went the right way.

Like Sefa, Witsel stepped up to take Belgium's third penalty and put the ball in the back of the net with a classy penalty struck perfectly into the top left corner, making it all square in the shootout.

Switzerland regained control thanks to Xherdan Shaqiri's penalty which was deposited in the exact same place where Xhevdet Sefa put his own penalty. 2-1 to La Nati!

Youri Tielemans, despite being one of the highly rated players coming into the World Cup this year was the villain for Belgium as he missed his penalty, giving Switzerland the chance to finish off the Belgians with just one more penalty goal.

The man with all the pressure, Breel Embolo stepped up to take what would be the final penalty, sucking in all the pressure that came with scoring the goal to send Switzerland to the Semi-Finals of the World Cup. The Barcelona star tucked his penalty away comfortably into the right hand side, causing a riot on the pitch from the backroom staff, including an Adam Chabukiani knee slide in front of the travelling Switzerland fans who had come so far to North Africa to watch their team get into the Semi-Finals.

La Nati have certainly got the easier draw in the Semi's as they draw Serbia as their potential pathway to the World Cup Final, avoiding both Holland and Italy who won their Quarter-Final ties against Denmark and Austria respectively.





It's a party atmosphere in both Switzerland and Morocco as La Nati charge on into the World Cup Final.

Switzerland confirmed their place at Stade du Prince Moulay Abdullah after another penalty shootout in the Semi-Finals against Serbia.

A senior figure in the Switzerland camp told The Swiss Football Free Press that this victory over Serbia was another fantastic chapter in what has been a fairytale competition which has exceeded all expectations. But what can you actually expect with Adam Chabukiani as your manager?

This victory is Switzerland's sixth consecutive win in the World Cup Finals this year after famous wins against Argentina, Germany and Belgium.

The match against Serbia was a highly-contested one at that, with a total of eight bookings being handed out, including a sending off for the Serbian midfielder Nemanja Matic.

The Swiss dominated the game most of the time, having only just less of the possession but using what time they had on the ball wisely.

But the match finished scoreless between the two sides after 120 minutes, despite many chances coming from mostly Switzerland. Unlike the penalty shootout against Belgium, though, Serbia contested Switzerland well from the spot with the shootout finishing 4-3 in Switzerland's favour.

Ivanic took the first penalty for Serbia and dramatically hit the crossbar before the ball bounced away from the goal as Burki counted himself lucky not to get in the way of such a powerful strike.

However Switzerland's Josip Drmic took advantage of Ivanic's miss as he struck the perfect penalty into the top left hand corner, well beyond the reach of Radunovic who tried his hardest to stop the shot.

Lazar Markovic made up for Ivanic's earlier mistake by pelting his shot well beyond Roman Burki's reach as the Swiss keeper was sent the wrong way by Markovic's mind games.

Breel Embolo scored his penalty, adding onto the 100% conversion rate that the Swiss were striking into the net from the spot.

Novak Simov was the third player to step up for Serbia and he riskily sent the ball straight down the middle as Burki went to his right. Serbia had to make up for the earlier miss but Switzerland had to miss a penalty to catch up.

Adam Chabukiani's Bradford Park Avenue companion Stéphane Pires was Switzerland's third player to take a penalty. Unfortunately the young midfielder buckled under the pressure as his penalty was parried away by Radunovic, giving Serbia the chance they needed to catch up with their opponents.

Srdjan Babic capitalised on Pires' mistake as his penalty was sent just above Burki's helpless dive to the left as Serbia equalised on penalties.

Things went from bad to worse for Switzerland as their supposed set-piece specialist Ricardo Rodríguez missed his penalty, leaving Switzerland fans biting their nails as Serbia now had the upper hand in the tie.

Djordje Tasin was the next to step up for Serbia. However his confidence was flawed as his shot on goal sailed way, way wide of the target in front of millions watching on television. Tasin was seen in tears by the end of the game.

Granit Xhaka tucked away a perfect shot into the bottom right hand corner, with Boris Radunovic sent completely the wrong way as the Swiss leveled the score.

Like Djordje Tasin, Milos Radovanov missed his penalty completely, sending the ball wide of the goal in an embarrassing effort for the midfielder, giving the next Switzerland penalty the chance to go to the World Cup Final.

It was down to centre-back Nico Elvedi to take Switzerland to the Final. The 25-year-old puffed out his cheeks to rid himself of pressure before running up the ball on the spot. Elvedi's shot sneaked just underneath Radunovic's body into the bottom left corner, with such a tight squeeze sending the Swiss staff into raptures knowing that their stay in Morocco is extending as they play Holland who had beaten Italy in the other Semi-Final.
Good job winning over Belgium. Serbia should be the easier draw although they do always get good prospects. Good luck.

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