Switzerland’s 4-3 victory over Germany in a tumultuous match at the FIFA U17 World Cup bore mixed emotions for Arsenal defender Sead Hajrovic. The former Grasshoppers player was sent off after coming on as a substitute but his country still qualified for the quarter-finals of the competition.
It was 1-1 at the break after Ricardo Rodriguez’s strike was cancelled out by a Mario Goetze effort for the Germans. Harris Seferovic restored Switzerland’s lead only for Florian Trinks to force extra-time. Andre Goncalves then gave the Swiss the lead for the third time in the match and it was extended via Nassim Ben Khalifa’s penalty. Yunus Malli scored a late goal for Germany, but Switzerland held on to prevail to the last eight. In the midst of all that Hajrovic, on as an 83rd minute substitute, was sent off before normal time had elapsed after recieving a straight red for a crunching challenge on Marcus Zimmerman. Switzerland will now play Italy in the quarter-finals.
Damian Martinez couldn’t prevent Argentina from being eliminated by Columbia. The ‘keeper, currently on loan at Independiente, was beaten three times in a close fought match that ended 3-2 in the Colombians favour. Oguzhan Ozyakup’s Netherlands went out in the group stages.
