It was a normal challenge – Switzerland equaliser fine by Shaqiri

Brazil are incorrect with their assessment that Switzerland’s equaliser in their World Cup Group E clash should not have stood, according to Xherdan Shaqiri.

Steven Zuber rose above Miranda to head home five minutes into the second half in Rostov-on-Don, cancelling out Philippe Coutinho’s first-half strike, though Brazil wanted a free-kick awarded in their favour.

VAR was not consulted by referee Cesar Ramos following the incident, another reason for the Selecao’s frustration, but Shaqiri believes there was nothing wrong with the header from his team-mate.

“I think it’s not the same as a foul. In every game you have some little touches and this is football. I don’t think he pushed the player, it’s a normal challenge at a corner for me,” he told reporters.

Switzerland, who were eliminated at the last-16 stage by Argentina in Brazil four years ago, tackle Serbia on Friday before taking on Costa Rica in their final Group E outing.

Match #9 | #BRA 1-1 #SUI#BRASUI pic.twitter.com/Lmm918J1Ut

— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) June 17, 2018

Shaqiri believes Vladimir Petkovic’s side are capable of reaching the latter stages of the tournament.

“Our goal is to get to the next round and to do our best. We know there is another two difficult games but we don’t fear anybody,” the Stoke City winger added.

“We have the quality to win games and we go into every game to try to win. We know there are two different games coming up and we will try to win.”