Manaus : A rampant Switzerland reached the World Cup knockout stage and will locks horns with Argentina in the last 16 after a superb Xherdan Shaqiri hat-trick gave them a 3-0 win over Honduras on Wednesday.
The result in no way flattered the resilient Swiss, who bounced back from their 5-2 drubbing by France to finish behind them in Group ‘E’ while third-placed Ecuador and Honduras were eliminated.
It was a memorable match for Kosovo-born forward Shaqiri, who scored the 50th hat-trick in World Cup history and the second of this tournament after Germany’s Thomas Mueller netted three against Portugal.
Shaqiri linked up brilliantly with striker Josip Drmic who set up two of the goals after he was preferred to Haris Seferovic in the starting line-up.The opener, however, was entirely of the 22-year-old’s making as he shook of his marker and unleashed a thunderbolt into the top left corner which left Honduras keeper Noel Valladares rooted to the spot.
He made it 2-0 on the half-hour mark, steering the ball past Valladares after he was released by Drmic who missed two chances in the closing stages of the first half with Honduras constantly on the back foot.
The Hondurans, cheered by most neutral fans, were more purposeful early in the second half and nearly pulled one back when Swiss defender Ricardo Rodriguez cleared Jerry Bengtson’s shot off the line.
It was a wake-up call for the Swiss and Shaqiri went close to adding a third, forcing another good save from Valladares before Honduras had a penalty claim waved away after Jerry Palacios went down under a challenge from Johan Djourou.
