Manzambi is exciting as Switzerland enters the Last 16 by defeating Algeria 2026 World Cup

It is no surprise that Newcastle United are working overtime to seal a deal for Johan Manzambi. The secret, if ever there was one, is plain and obvious when it comes to the 20-year-old Freiburg striker who destroyed Algeria to set up Breel Embolo in Switzerland’s opening match with a comfortable victory to reach the Last 16. Granit Xhaka, like any good captain, tried to hide the high expectations after the victory over the Swiss. World Cup for the first time since 1938.

“He had a great tournament, keep your eyes on him,” came the pre-match message from the stadium announcer accompanied by images of Manzambi projected onto a large cuboid screen hanging from the ceiling. The show described Manzambi as sixth in Fifa’s list of jazzy attacking powers, behind a star-studded cast led by Kylian Mbappé including Michael Olise, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane. However, Algeria did not heed the warning.

The match was 10 minutes old when Ruben Vargas played a wonderful ball to Manzambi, who took over, and happily took the stick a few yards into the Algerian half. He carried the ball to the byline, playing Algeria defender Aissa Mandi on the way, and, off balance, found the composure to dig the ball. Embolo used the finish, parting his cheeks and showing a smile, but it was a goal made by Manzambi.

From there, Switzerland was on cruise control and doubled their lead 48 seconds into the second half. Dan Ndoye made the finish look easy, superbly taking Mandi’s free on his left foot before firing into the far corner past Luca Zidane, who got a finger in the shot, to his right. Murat Yakin, gray and with thick maroon glasses, came out of his hole to drink at that moment, moving on to the next round on the horizon.

Switzerland started their tournament with a draw against Qatar, a stoppage-time equalizer that eased their attack, but have now made it three wins in a row, scoring eight goals and conceding just twice. Vargas was active down the left, tying opponents in knots, with Ndoye, also on the opposite side. Manzambi was sent off midway through the second half, his job done.

In defense, the truth is that they did not worry, Algeria failed to work Gregor Kobel; Houssem Aouar missed the first big chance of the game after five minutes, changing his lines after reading Riyadh Mahrez’s dummy and Ibrahim Maza later headed wide after Mahrez’s cross to Aouar. At 2-0, Mahrez’s first shot was innocent, allowing Denis Zakaria to block.

Switzerland should have added a third goal on 81 minutes after Zakaria sent the ball into the Algerian box. But instead of hitting Zidane with a goal gap, Fabian Rieder made a trick to return it to where it came from, allowing the Algerian goalkeeper to extinguish it. In the end, it didn’t matter, there were no late worries, and Switzerland can get used to their British Columbia home base as they prepare to face either Colombia or Ghana here on Tuesday.