Serbia v Switzerland: World Cup 2022 – live

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42 min Switzerland have been really, really sloppy in possession. Rodr?guez is the latest player to lose the ball in the middle of the park, heading straight to a cluster of red shirts.

Jeff Sachs writes in. “… yes, France will win …” Why the cryptic punctuation, Jeff? And can we all stop talking about France, please? There’s a football match going on here.

38 min Rodr?guez gets to the byline and cuts the ball back for Vargas, whose shot is blocked.

That’s a lovely finish. Switzerland lose the ball in midfield and Tadic dances forwards. He slips a delicious through ball to Dusan Vlahovic, but Remo Freuler gets there first. In a head-in-hands moment, Freuler can only poke it back into Vlahovic’s path. The Juventus forward thanks him kindly by stroking the ball into the back of the net.

33 min It’s getting a little spicy now. Vargas is booked for chopping down Zivkovic.

Aditi Modi writes in. “Shaqiri scoring against Serbia is one blast from the 2018 past. Along with Germany getting eliminated at the group stage, does that mean France win the whole thing again?”

29 min Shaqiri is inches away from scoring a second! A beautiful long ball from Ricardo Rodr?guez falls nicely for the little winger, but a last-ditch challenge from Strahinja Pavlovic is enough to force his shot narrowly wide.

Given a second chance thanks to Switzerland’s lax defending, Tadic produces a near-identical ball into the box. This time, Mitrovic meets it and sends a header looping past Kobel and into the far corner.

24 min Dusan Tadic makes a yard of space with a clever turn in midfield and dinks an inviting ball into the area, but it’s cleared.

Shaqiri who, along with Xhaka, has perhaps the biggest personal investment in this fixture, has been whistled relentlessly by the Serbia fans for the first 20 minutes. Unfortunately for them, he’s just scored the opener. A routine ball into the box is cleared as far as Djibril Sow, who tees up Shaqiri to his right. He lashes past Vanja Milinkovic-Savic before charging off towards the corner flag with his finger held firmly to his lips.

17 min Embolo bursts forwards from deep once again, but is stopped abruptly by a tackle from Sergej Milinkovic-Savic. The Switzerland forward goes tumbling to the turf, but no foul is forthcoming.

14 min Silvan Widmer gets the first booking of the evening after hauling down Filip Kostic out wide.

11 min Embolo powers forwards from deep and releases Ruben Vargas to his left. He cuts the ball back to Xhaka, whose shot is blocked.

10 min Serbia hit the post! Andrija Zivkovic gallops into space and unleashes a shot from distance which rattles the upright. The rebound falls for Aleksandar Mitrovic, but he can only guide the ball into Kobel’s arms at close range.

4 min Serbia win the first corner of the game and Nikola Milenkovic gets a free header, but fails to direct it on target.

1 min We’re not even 30 seconds into the match and Vanja Milinkovic-Savic has been called upon to make a double save. Xherdan Shaqiri latches onto a loose ball and dinks a pass over the top to Breel Embolo, who is denied at close range. Granit Xhaka has a go on the rebound, but Milinkovic-Savic throws his body in the way once again.

We’re under way in Ras Abu Aboud. Switzerland get things started.

The national anthems are over and done with. The giant Serbian and Swiss flags have been folded up. The tracksuits are off. The ball is on the centre circle. These are all unmistakable signs that a football match is about to begin.

The teams are in the tunnel. We’ve got a little over five minutes until kick off.

Jim Fullton writes in, effortlessly showing off his linguistic prowess. “Hopp Schwiiz. Allez la Suisse. Avanti Svizzera.”

Switzerland have given an update on Yann Sommer and Nico Elvedi, neither of whom are in the squad tonight despite having started the last two games. There’s a simple explanation, namely that they are both ill. Gregor Kobel, the Borussia Dortmund goalkeeper, and Fabian Sch?r, the Newcastle United centre-back, will stand in for them.

We have our first bit of email correspondence. Hello, Matt Burtz! “As someone who may or may not have placed a wager on Switzerland to advance from this group, I would like to see them win today. Also, I have a season ticket to the Chicago Fire, and I can report that even though MLS is not of the quality of many European leagues, Xherdan Shaqiri still has it at the relatively young age of 31. Watching him in person allows you to see the way he always tries to make himself available for a pass, and he always has his head up looking to distribute. It’s really quite enjoyable (even if the team itself isn’t especially potent).”

Here’s some more background on the human cost of this World Cup, courtesy of Pete Pattisson.

… and here’s the Swiss starting XI.

The team sheets are in and here’s how Serbia line up.

As Qatar’s PR machine clunks along in the background, the stories of those who have suffered to make this tournament happen remain as important as ever. Here’s some pre-match reading.

Deep within the nightmarish fever dream of this World Cup, another football match is taking shape. After a 2-0 defeat to Brazil and a chaotic 3-3 draw with Cameroon, Serbia arrive at Stadium 974 knowing they can only salvage their campaign with a win combined with a draw or defeat for the Cameroonians against Brazil. For Switzerland, who are on three points with one win and one loss, a draw will be enough to finish as runners-up as long as Cameroon don’t cause an upset. As if this tournament needed another point of contention, there are political tensions bubbling beneath the surface of this fixture: several Switzerland players have Albanian or Bosnian heritage which, given the bitter legacy of the Yugoslav Wars, means a game against Serbia has the potential for acrimony.