{"id":87337,"date":"2026-06-19T01:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T01:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/87337\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T01:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T01:26:11","slug":"swiss-20-year-old-was-told-to-let-talent-speak-for-itself-so-he-scored-2-world-cup-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/87337\/","title":{"rendered":"Swiss 20-year-old was told to let ‘talent speak for itself,’ so he scored 2 World Cup goals"},"content":{"rendered":"

INGLEWOOD, CA \u2014 Johan Manzambi wouldn’t allow a repeat of his World Cup<\/a> debut.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old Switzerland<\/a> player came off the bench in the 65th minute of his team’s first match against Qatar<\/a> on Saturday, June 13, and didn’t add much as the Swiss conceded a late goal and had to settle for a tie.<\/p>\n

It was a surprise result, and Manzambi’s play was criticized for not helping his team clinch a victory. So when he came off the bench again against Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/a> on Thursday, June 18, he was going to need to step up immediately.<\/p>\n

All he needed was three minutes.<\/p>\n

After coming on in the 71st minute, Manzambi ignited the spark in his team by breaking up the scoreless tie in the 74th minute with a stunning volley his team had been seeking all match. The goal was the first of what would be four total by Switzerland, all coming in the final 23 minutes of the game to come away with a pleasing 4-1 victory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And for good measure, Manzambi scored again in the 90th minute for the brace.<\/p>\n

\"Johan<\/p>\n

Johan Manzambi of Switzerland celebrates with Ricardo Rodriguez after scoring the team’s third goal during the match against Bosnia and Herzegovina at Los Angeles Stadium.<\/p>\n

It was the perfect bounce back for someone viewed as the future of the Switzerland national team. A night and day difference from his first match \u2013 and what started it was a simple message from coach Murat Yakin: show off your stuff.<\/p>\n

“I came back with a mindset where I wanted to help my team, to give the best that I could. The instructions I had, it was just tactical. (Yakin) told me: ‘let my talent speak for itself,'” Manzambi said. “I think that today, I showed it as best I could.”<\/p>\n

That he did, and his coach was pleased.<\/p>\n

“He was very important as a substitute in the past, and we’re happy to have him as part of the team,” Yakin said through the FIFA translator.<\/p>\n

Not only did he have an emphatic response, but Manzambi made some history as he became the youngest Swiss player to score at least two goals in a World Cup match. He’s also the first Swiss player to score multiple goals in a World Cup game off the bench.<\/p>\n

Playing for German club Freiburg in Bundesliga, there’s been a lot of hype for Manzambi. He was the UEFA Europa League Young Player of the Season, contributing to his team making the final. He had productive performances in World Cup qualifying, which got him on the roster.<\/p>\n

Even with all the potential, Yakin mentioned Manzambi still needs more discipline on the pitch. After Granit Xhaka expressed disappointment<\/a> in so many aspects of the opening draw, he was complimentary of the Geneva native.<\/p>\n

“We know when he’s ready, when he’s clean with his head, he can help every team,” Xhaka said. “He didn’t do it in the first game. He did today. Very good. Not just only him, but all the substitution was the key, for me. They bring the new push in the team, exactly what we wish.”<\/p>\n

Manzambi couldn’t hide his smile as he held the player of the match award while speaking with reporters postgame, and it stayed with him as he prepared to get on the team bus. A performance like that would be enough to be in the starting XI for the final Group B match against Canada, but Yakin didn’t commit to inserting him, saying he has so many options and needs to assess the game plan.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know who the starting XI will be in the next match, there are no guarantees,” he said. “Manzambi showed a really good performance today.”<\/p>\n

Whether he’s starting or coming off the bench, Manzambi is eager for an encore.<\/p>\n

“I am very, very, very happy, but that’s not finished,” he said. “I hope the next game, I can do like today.”<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Johan Manzambi let his ‘talent speak for itself’ to ignite Switzerland<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INGLEWOOD, CA \u2014 Johan Manzambi wouldn’t allow a repeat of his World Cup debut. The 20-year-old Switzerland player…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[36986,20914,41,44496,17,9869,13703],"class_list":["post-87337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-switzerland","tag-johan-manzambi","tag-murat-yakin","tag-swiss","tag-swiss-player","tag-switzerland","tag-switzerland-national-team","tag-world-cup"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116774173962837525","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}