Switzerland 0-0 Colombia (4-3 on penalties): FIFA World Cup Round of 16 Match Report

Switzerland 0-0 Colombia, and Switzerland through 4-3 on penalties. Goalless at half-time, goalless after ninety minutes, goalless through extra time: 120 minutes without a goal, and the only match of the tournament to finish that way. The other three shoot-outs all arrived from 1-1.

Two of the meanest defences in the competition met and produced what their records pointed at. Colombia had conceded a single goal in four matches, in the opening win over Uzbekistan, and nothing since. Switzerland had conceded three in four, but none in the Round of 32.

A goalless first half was not, in itself, a warning sign for Switzerland. They had gone in level at 0-0 against both Bosnia-Herzegovina and Canada and won those matches 4-1 and 2-1 after the break. What was new here was that the second half brought nothing either, and neither did the thirty minutes after it. Three of the tournament's four shoot-outs were settled by a single kick, and this was one of them.

Switzerland won Group B with seven points: 1-1 against Qatar, having led at the interval, then 4-1 over Bosnia-Herzegovina and 2-1 against Canada. Seven scored, three conceded. In the Round of 32 they beat Algeria 2-0 from a 1-0 half-time lead, the only knockout match they would win inside ninety minutes.

Colombia topped Group K on seven points, winning 3-1 in Uzbekistan and 1-0 against Congo DR before a goalless draw with Portugal, then beating Ghana 1-0 in the Round of 32. Four goals scored and one conceded.

The number underneath that record is the one this match turned on. Three of Colombia's four goals came in the opening ninety minutes of their tournament. The following four matches — Congo DR, Portugal, Ghana and 120 minutes here — produced two, and the Portugal draw was the first ninety minutes they had played out without scoring. A defence that conceded once in five games was carrying an attack that had gone quiet in June.

Switzerland advanced to a quarter-final against Argentina and lost 3-1 after extra time, having been level at 1-1 through ninety. Three knockout matches, 330 minutes played, and only the Algeria tie decided in normal time.

Colombia went out without losing a match across the whole tournament: three wins and two draws in five games, five goals scored, one conceded. It is among the most disciplined defensive campaigns in the competition and among the least productive, and those are the same fact seen from two sides.

This was the fourth and last shoot-out of the tournament and the only one in the Round of 16.