Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said that overconfidence was the reason why Belgium lost to Switzerland last night. In their final Nations League group game at Lucerne, Belgium needed only a point against Switzerland to qualify for the Finals while the Swiss needed a win.
The World Cup bronze medalists were heavy favorites to win despite Switzerland hosting the match. Belgium began brilliantly with a brace from Thorgan Hazard giving them a 2-0 lead in the first 20 minutes.
In the 26th minute, Switzerland won a penalty due to a foul by Nacer Chadli. Ricardo Rodriguez converted it to make the scores 2-1. Just five minutes later, Benfica striker Haris Seferovic equalised for the Swiss before giving them the lead just before half-time.
In the 62nd minute, Nico Elvedi scored Switzerland’s fourth before Seferovic completed his first international hat-trick to give Switzerland a 5-2 win over the No.1 ranked team in the world. The win is Switzerland’s first against Belgium since 1983 when they won 3-1 in a Euro 1984 qualifier.
Seferovic’s hat-trick was the first hat-trick by a Swiss player since Xherdan Shaqiri’s hat-trick against Honduras at the 2014 World Cup. It also took Seferovic to the top of the scoring charts of League A.
Following the match, Courtois said, “We started well, took the early lead and doubled it also. Then we started to lose duels and gave away a stupid penalty. Suddenly the Swiss got hope for more. I think after our 2-0 lead the feeling went into our team that it could not go wrong. But this is a high-level competitive match and hopefully not reaching the final four will teach us a lesson for the future.”
Belgium end 2018 with 13 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats. Switzerland join Portugal and England in the UEFA Nations League Finals.
