Shaqiri's hattrick takes the Swiss through

Switzerland beat Honduras to qualify for the last-16 of the World Cup at the expense of Ecuador who draw with France.


Switzerland powered into the World Cup knockout stages as Group E runners-up and will play Argentina for a quarter-final berth after a superb Xherdan Shaqiri hat-trick gave them a 3-0 win over Honduras.

Honduras finished bottom of the group with three defeats in as many games.

Kosovo-born forward Shaqiri enjoyed a memorable afternoon as he linked up brilliantly with striker Josip Drmic, who replaced Haris Seferovic in the starting line-up.

Having missed an early sitter, Shaqiri unleashed a sixth-minute thunderbolt into the top left corner and then steered the ball past keeper Noel Valladares on the half-hour mark after he was released by Drmic.

Roared on by chants of "Go Suisse" from their fans in the Amazonia arena, where humidity reached 88 percent coupled with a temperature of 26 degrees Celsius, the Swiss proved too hot to handle for their modest rivals.

Spurred by Mexican waves on the terraces, Honduras threw men forward and were caught cold in the 71st minute, when Drmic's good work down the left flank presented Shaqiri with a simple tap-in.

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