It was the highlight of 20 minutes of Serbian dominance to begin the match. When Schar wasn’t being beaten by Mitrovic in the air, he was being tormented on the wing by Dusan Tadic on the wing. Time-and-time again Serbian players found Mitrovic in the box; in the 20th minute he even attempted a cheeky bicycle kick, apparently bored of winning headers.

But while the Swiss defense bent, it somehow managed not to break, and eventually got help from the rest of the team. The midfield, overrun by Serbia’s press, began controlling the ball for longer periods of time, and Switzerland spent the final 20 minutes of the first half on the attack. They controlled the ball, but rarely threatened.

Early in the second half that changed. Shaqiri’s curling shot from just inside the box was blocked, and rolled away from goal. Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka was the first man on the scene, and he belted a 25-yard curler past helpless Serbian keeper Vladimir Stojkovic to even the game.

After the goal, the game swung back in Serbia’s favor, as they had a few chances to reclaim the lead. On another Tadic cross, Mitrovic was held back by two Swiss defenders. His appeal for a penalty fell on deaf ears, and the video assistant referee didn’t intervene. Minutes later Tadic whipped a dangerous low cross into the no mans land between keeper and his defense, but it was just out of the reach of his attackers.

With both teams tiring the midfield became easier to bypass, as attacks were countered with more attacks. As the game neared the 90th minute, a 1-1 draw — which would’ve been fair to both teams — seemed likely. It was then that disaster struck for Serbia.