Switzerland needed ten minutes to end Algeria's resistance as a contest. Breel Embolo's opener settled Murat Yakin's side before the first quarter-hour was up, and Dan Ndoye's goal at the stroke of half-time turned what might have been a tense knockout tie into a controlled exercise in suffocation. Algeria had the ball for longer, passed with greater accuracy and finished with more total passes, but possession without penetration is just statistics, and their expected goals figure of 0.73 tells the real story of a night in Vancouver.
The opening goal came from a move that exposed Algeria's defensive shape almost before they had found their feet. Johan Manzambi picked up the ball and delivered a pass through to Embolo, who finished in the tenth minute to give Switzerland a lead their first-half performance would fully justify. Algeria managed two shots on target across ninety minutes. Switzerland managed five from fewer attempts, nine of those eleven efforts coming from inside the box.
Ndoye's goal at the stroke of half-time was the knockout punch. Arriving precisely at the 46th minute, it removed whatever lingering hope Algeria might have nursed at the interval. From that point the match had the atmosphere of a formality, which suits Switzerland just fine. Yakin's teams are not built for spectacle; they are built for outcomes.
Granit Xhaka and Remo Freuler were the engine room, sitting deep and distributing cleanly through an 81 per cent pass accuracy that kept the team ticking without ever quite forcing Algeria into the kind of panic that produces openings. Xhaka in particular was commanding, directing traffic and setting the tempo with the unhurried authority of a player who has done this at the highest level before. Manuel Akanji was similarly composed in a back four that conceded nothing of substance all evening.
For Algeria, the tactical arrangement in a 4-3-3 offered the theoretical threat of Riyad Mahrez in wide areas and the energy of Farès Chaïbi and Nabil Bentaleb through the middle, but Vladimir Petkovic's side struggled to convert territorial advantage into anything resembling sustained pressure. Mahrez was quiet throughout before being withdrawn at 71 minutes. Houssem Aouar fared little better and was gone before the hour. When the substitutions came, they changed the personnel without changing the story.
Chaïbi picked up a yellow card for his troubles. Hicham Boudaoui was also cautioned after coming on as a substitute. Both bookings were minor footnotes in a game Algeria were already losing.
The Swiss goalkeeper Gregor Kobel made two saves, which means he was tested twice. That is a reasonable summary of Algeria's evening at the sharp end. Luca Zidane in the Algeria goal also made two stops, but the scoreline confirms who was doing the pressing and who was doing the surviving.
Switzerland advance to the next stage of the tournament with a clean sheet and a performance that contained very little waste. They were not flashy, but they were reliable, well-organised and ruthless in the moments that counted. Algeria, who had enough of the ball to cause more problems than they did, will reflect on an xG figure that suggests their attacking play created barely three-quarters of a goal's worth of genuine danger. In a knockout competition, that is not enough.
Embolo with a goal, Ndoye with a goal, Manzambi with the assist. The three players who defined the match, and the three who made the outcome inevitable before the second half had barely started.