INGLEWOOD — For nearly 70 minutes Thursday afternoon, Switzerland and Bosnia and Herzegovina presented the latest argument against World Cup expansion in a tournament that, at only a week old, was already full of them.
For more than an hour, the equally dreadful Swiss and Bosnians left the 70,026 fans at SoFi Stadium to ask themselves two pertinent questions:
I really paid $1,200 for this?
And remind me again why FIFA decided to expand the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams?
(Hint: The second answer is obvious – insatiable greed.)
Then with the South Bay’s June Gloom visible through this spaceship of a stadium’s openings, the temperature all of 68 degrees, the match was stopped for one of FIFA’s mandated commercial, ah, “hydration” breaks.
“Stealth advertising breaks,” is how former England and Manchester United defender Gary Neville described them on “The Overlap” podcast.
If nothing else, the commercial break gave Swiss coach Murat Yakin enough time to come to his senses.
Yakin subbed in Johan Manzambi, the 20-year-old box-to-box midfielder and one of the most exciting young players in Europe who elevated the Swiss and the match to a thrilling level.
Manzambi scored a pair of goals in Switzerland’s 4-1 victory, the first strike kickstarting 20 minutes of dramatic, pedal-to-the-metal soccer that all but secured a place in the Round of 32 for the Swiss.
“It’s probably the best moment of my career so far,” Manzambi said. “We knew why we didn’t start well and we had to be patient today. But we’re a good team and I think we showed that today.”
It also showed why the SC Freiburg midfielder has attracted the attention of Premier League giants Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea.
SC Freiburg is expected to demand more than the $57.3 million several transfer market websites have placed on Manzambi. His price tag will only go up after Thursday.
“He is very versatile: in defense, midfield, on the flanks, as a striker,” Yakin said.
At times, Manzambi has tried to do too much.
Swiss captain Granit Xhaka was critical of Manzambi’s 25 minutes coming off the bench in Switzerland’s World Cup opener, a 1-1 draw with Qatar.
“When the coach brings in a player and that player just tries to do everything, and you no longer have the discipline in certain positions, then it gets difficult,” Xhaka told reporters. “In the end, you just have to do what the coach asks and not feel like you have to be the showman and do everything on your own.”
On Thursday, neither side had anything to show before Manzambi stepped on the pitch.
Manzambi’s first goal, like the break, was a momentum changer in a second half, when the Bosians had looked the more threatening side.
Positioning himself at the penalty spot, Manzambi struck a world-class, right-footed volley that Bosnian goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj got his hands on, but the blast was unstoppable. From there, the afternoon went from bad to worse for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Defender Tarik Muharemovic received a red card for bringing down Switzerland’s Breel Embolo just outside the 18-yard box in the 80th minute.
It took the Swiss just four minutes to pick apart the 10-men Bosnians for a second goal, a strike by Ruben Vargas, another sub, coming at end of a series of passes in the final third that had Bosnia scrambling. Manzambi made it 3-0 with a goal in the 90th minute.
Yet for all of Manzambi’s lethalness, an utterly forgettable Thursday afternoon until his entrance will also be remembered for its timing.
“We picked a tactical moment,” Yakin said. “We could have done the substitutions earlier, but then the opponent would have had the chance to react immediately. So that’s why I picked the hydration break, obviously.”
What is obvious is that the only thing as dishonest as FIFA’s insistence that the breaks are only because of its concerns about players’ health is FIFA’s claiming that the stoppages don’t impact matches.
“We’re in America, right? So, it’s like it is a timeout,” Roy Keane, the former Ireland, Manchester United and Galaxy star, said on “The Overlap.”
“We love football because of the pace of the game. What it’s doing is stopping the flow of the game, the momentum.”
Added U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino: “I only like it when the conditions are extreme, but when the conditions are good, it is unnecessary.”
The early forecast for Switzerland and Canada’s Group B finale Wednesday at BC Place in Vancouver is partly cloudy with a match kickoff temperature of 63 degrees.
“Who knows, maybe we can use Johan from the start,” Yakin said. “Let’s see what the future holds.”