Yakin overcomes Manzambi loss with tactical rethink to steer Swiss into quarters

VANCOUVER, July 7 : Shorn of one of the tournament's breakout talents, Switzerland boss Murat Yakin reshuffled his deck and performed a tactical overhaul before reaching the World Cup quarter-finals via a 4-3 penalty shootout victory over Colombia having ground out a 0-0 draw. 

Yakin's World Cup has been full of tactical tweaks, turns and twists, but on Tuesday he had no choice but to tear up the script after Manzambi suffered a knee injury in training the day before the game, and the coach was not found wanting. 

Despite starting the opening game against Qatar on the bench, the 20-year-old Manzambi made the most of his chance when it came, scoring twice against Bosnia and going on to notch a total of three goals and two assists heading into Tuesday's clash. 

More importantly, he made himself indispensable to Yakin's tactical plans, allowing the Swiss to sit deep and offering them a dangerous outlet for counter-attacks, as well as the ability to hold the ball up when needed. 

The injury forced Yakin to tear up his original game plan and once the game started it quickly became apparent that the Swiss would be happy with a stalemate, sitting back and controlling the tempo and seldom throwing players forward in attack.

With Switzerland's Ruben Vargas also benched due to injury worries, Breel Embolo was left to forage on his own for much of the game against Colombia's miserly defence - unit that had conceded just one goal coming into the match. 

"I think it's natural that it kind of goes that way in the way the game played out," Swiss goalkeeper Gregor Kobel told reporters.  

"We knew they were very physical, we knew they were a very good team, and they had the crowd on their side, obviously, so it was a tough game for us."

TARGET