{"id":97091,"date":"2026-07-04T02:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T02:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/97091\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T02:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T02:28:10","slug":"young-swiss-star-manzambi-shines-at-fifa-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/97091\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Swiss star Manzambi shines at FIFA World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Switzerland’s Johan Manzambi, left, and Algeria’s Rayan Ait-Nouri battle for the ball during the World Cup round-of-32 soccer match between Switzerland and Algeria in Vancouver this week.Lindsey Wasson\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Johan Manzambi keeps making his presence felt at the FIFA 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old midfielder earned praise from his teammates and coach after setting up striker Breel Embolo\u2019s goal in the 10th minute as Switzerland defeated Algeria 2-0 Thursday night to advance to the round of 16.<\/p>\n

Manzambi showed both his speed and fluid moves on the play. He sliced past several Algerian defenders, pulled up at the corner of the net, then feathered a pass that Embolo blasted home, bringing a cheer from the announced sellout crowd of 52,497 at BC Place Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think 95 per cent of the goal is Johan,\u201d Embolo, who plays for Ligue 1 club Rennes, said about Manzambi\u2019s assist. \u201cHe pulled up the ball (and) it was an easy goal for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swiss coach Murat Yakin called the goal \u201ca lucky punch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need small moments where you expect a player to help out the team,\u201d said Yakin. \u201cHe was able to identify the moment we needed as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Striker Dan Ndoye scored Switzerland\u2019s other goal in the 46th minute.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an incredible player for us, and he helped us go to the next step,\u201d Ndoye said about Manzambi. \u201cI think he had a lot to prove again, but he makes us so much better. We\u2019re really happy to have him on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

With his team ahead 2-0, Manzambi was replaced by Noah Okafor in the 70th minute.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had to work defensively,\u201d said Yakin. \u201cThe longer the match went on, the more difficult it got for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manzambi, who plays for the Bundesliga club SC Freiburg, made his mark at BC Place Stadium last week. He scored a goal, collected an assist, and was named man of the match in Switzerland\u2019s 2-1 win over Canada that clinched the top spot in Group B.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the tournament, he scored two goals in a 4\u20131 win against Bosnia-Herzegovina, becoming the youngest player to score two goals off the bench in the World Cup.<\/p>\n

He has five goals in 15 international appearances.<\/p>\n

Swiss captain Granit Xhaka said Manzambi is improving with each game.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see he\u2019s a very, very good player,\u201d said the midfielder who also captains the Premier League club Sunderland. \u201cHe\u2019s young, but the hunger is big. He is very helpful for our team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne more time, he helped us today to score goals. Without the ball, he has a very good mentality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yakin praised Manzambi\u2019s versatility.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can really use him in every single position,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to really witness his evolution and development starting last year. He\u2019s a precious player, a brilliant footballer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manzambi was born in Geneva and began playing soccer at four years old. His parents are from Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.<\/p>\n

Manzambi made his first appearance with the Swiss national team in a 4\u20132 win over Mexico on June 7, 2025. He scored his first senior international goal three days later in a 4-0 friendly win over the United States.<\/p>\n

He appeared in all six of Switzerland\u2019s World Cup qualifying games, scoring in both the home and away matches against Sweden.<\/p>\n

Yakin said Manzambi is an asset on and off the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a very dangerous every attack, laser-sharp focused,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s been able to show this in our team over the past year, getting better every game.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has very good character; he works very hard. It\u2019s just so much fun to work with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Switzerland will remain in Vancouver and face the winner of the Ghana-Colombia match in the round of 16 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The win against Algeria means Switzerland will have the chance to advance to the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time since 1954.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday we write one page of history,\u201d said Ndoye. \u201cBut we want more, and we work for more.\u201d\u2028<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Switzerland’s Johan Manzambi, left, and Algeria’s Rayan Ait-Nouri battle for the ball during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[1064,1051,1065,1042,1040,1066,563,1039,1057,1058,1054,1041,1038,39,1062,457,1056,1049,1077,1043,1044,70,1052,1053,899,1067,1047,1072,1073,1075,1070,1074,1068,1071,1045,1060,1061,69,1059,1069,1050,41,17,789,1063,1055,1048,1046,1076],"class_list":["post-97091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-switzerland","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-swiss","tag-switzerland","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97091","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=97091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}