The Swiss certainly had their share of set pieces, due to late tackles by the Hondurans. Too bad they couldn’t convert them. They needed 2 goals to go on in the competition. They had their chances to score, but didn’t. Honduras held on and held the Swiss back.
The relatively ordinary, as-expected run of play implies that the weird start to the tournament was just that — weird. One has to bow to the wisdom of the WC organizers who long ago decided that the competition must begin with a group stage that guaratees every team 3 games. Sometimes newbies and long shot countries hit the big stage and shine for an electric 90 minutes, only to fade next time out. Sometimes the big guns totally misfire in their first match, then reload and start finding the target.
Honduras beat nobody and tied Switzerland. No suprises there. Switzerland gave us a jaw-dropping opener by beating Spain, lost to Chile — barely — in their tense 2nd match, then finished up with the aforementioned tie. It’s almost as if by finding their bearings, they lost their edge.