Embolo, Ndoye score and Switzerland moves on at the World Cup with a 2-0 win over Algeria

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Switzerland finally broke through with a win in a World Cup knockout match.

Breel Embolo and Dan Ndoye both scored and the Swiss advanced to the round of 16 at the World Cup with a 2-0 victory over Algeria on Thursday night.

Switzerland will play the winner of Friday's match between Colombia and Ghana in Kansas City, Missouri. The round-of-16 game is set for next Tuesday in Vancouver.

Switzerland had not won a knockout-round match since 1938 in France, but in 1954 the team won a playoff game to reach the quarterfinals.

Although the Swiss reached the round of 16 at the past three World Cups, there was a smaller field of 32 teams in each of those tournaments, and they could get no further.

“Today we write one page of history, but we want more, and we work for more,” Ndoye said. “I think we show that we are a strong team, and now we need to show it in the next game, and we hope again to the next game.”

Celebrating the victory, the Swiss players sat on the field as they were serenaded by their fans. As the song reached a crescendo, the players jumped up and danced.

Algeria was eliminated after returning to the World Cup for the first time since 2014, when it advanced to the knockout round but fell to eventual champion Germany.

Algeria dominated the first 10 minutes before Johan Manzambi raced down the right side and crossed to Embolo for the tap-in. Embolo celebrated his 26th international goal with a knee slide.

“It was important to score at the right moment,” Swiss coach Murat Yakin said. “It was a lucky punch, but then after that, I think that we were dominating on the pitch, and I’m really happy with the overall performance, because we played against very strong individual players.”

Less than a minute into the second half, Ndoye scored with a blast from the top of the box that diving Algeria goalkeeper Luca Zidane couldn’t stop.

Fabian Rieder nearly got a third goal for Switzerland in the 81st minute but missed on the tap-in as the ball skirted across the face of Algeria’s goal.

“I think the second goal was decisive. In the first half, we played a good match. We had several opportunities, and unfortunately we did not score,” Algeria head coach Vladimir Petkovic said. “Unfortunately, after 12 minutes they scored the first goal, and we were not able to really cope with it. I have to congratulate them. They played a very good match.”

FIFA President Gianni Infantino was at the game, his second of the day. Earlier his attended the match between Spain and Austria in Inglewood, California.

Algeria advanced as a third-place finisher after a 3-3 draw against Austria last Saturday in Kansas City. The result sent both teams through to the knockout round but eliminated Iran. Algeria captain Riyad Mahrez, 35, scored a pair of goals.

“It was already a big success to be back at a competition like this after 12 years away, and making it through the group stage for only the second time in our history. I think that’s also an excellent result," Petkovic said. ”Of course, we wanted to achieve a little bit more, but we weren’t able to do so."

The Swiss got goals from Rubén Vargas and Manzambi to beat Canada 2-1 on Wednesday — spoiling Canada’s hopes of playing their first-ever knockout-round game on home soil. Instead, Switzerland got the return trip to Vancouver.

The Swiss also got a week off, during which time they returned to their training base in San Diego.

Manzambi, 20, has become the breakout star for Switzerland in the tournament, with a pair of goals and two assists. He played off the bench to start the World Cup, but earned a starting role in the team’s last two games.

Petkovic coached Switzerland from 2014-21 and led the team to the out of the group stage in the 2018 World Cup. He also was at the helm when the Swiss went to the quarterfinals of the European Championship in 2020.

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Switzerland's Granit Xhaka (10) and Algeria's Ibrahim Maza (22) talk following during the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between Switzerland and Algeria in Vancouver, British Columbia, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Algeria's Houssem Aouar (8) and Switzerland's Denis Zakaria (6) battle for a head ball during the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between Switzerland and Algeria in Vancouver, British Columbia, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

Switzerland's Johan Manzambi (9) battles with Algeria's Aissa Mandi (2) during the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between Switzerland and Algeria in Vancouver, British Columbia, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Nick Didlick)

Switzerland's Breel Embolo (7) and Algeria's Ramy Bensebaini (21) battle for the ball during the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between Switzerland and Algeria in Vancouver, British Columbia, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

Switzerland's Johan Manzambi (9) and Algeria's Rayan Ait-Nouri (15) battle for the ball during the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between Switzerland and Algeria in Vancouver, British Columbia, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Switzerland's Breel Embolo (7) celebrates after scoring his team's first goal during the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between Switzerland and Algeria in Vancouver, British Columbia, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A powerful general who leads Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard emerged publicly for the first time in months as Tehran prepared Friday for the dayslong funeral for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Photos published online by Iranian state media showed Gen. Ahmad Vahidi attending a meeting about the funeral of Khamenei, 86, then sitting alongside his casket as Iran's theocracy held a smaller service for him Thursday night near the supreme leader's former home in downtown Tehran.

Vahidi has become a major player in formulating Iran’s tough stance in negotiating a possible permanent end to the war with the United States, experts say. He is believed to be part of a small clique in direct contact with Iran’s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who remains in hiding after being reportedly wounded in the Feb. 28 Israeli strikes that killed his father, the elder Khamenei.

Vahidi himself hasn’t been seen publicly since Feb. 8, weeks before the Iran war began. Israel killed top leaders in Iran's military and government during the war — and has threatened the life of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei as well.

Video published by Iranian state media showed the mourning ceremony for Khamenei near the husseiniyah at his compound in Tehran. An Israeli airstrike in the war's first moments killed Khamenei and some of his family members. State media said Khamenei's body sat within a coffin on a stage, with red tulips lined up in front of it. What appeared to be paper butterflies hung from the ceiling in front of it.

The black-clad mourners, whom state media identified as coming from families of those who lost loved ones in the 12-day war in 2025 and the recent Iran war, threw scarves and other items for attendants to brush against the coffin, a common practice in Iran.

Later, state media showed images of Khamenei's casket draped by a red flag with white calligraphy reading "Ya Hussein,” a Shiite expression in remembrance of the 7th-century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson. It had been flying over the Imam Hussein golden-domed shrine in Karbala, Iraq. The flag also traditionally symbolizes both the spilled blood of someone unjustly killed and a call for vengeance.

On Friday morning, security forces carried Khamenei's coffin, now draped in the Iranian flag, overhead by hand as it arrived at the Grand Mosalla in Tehran. Religious leaders, officials and foreign dignitaries walked past Khamenei's coffin, as well as others of his slain family, including his 14-month-old granddaughter, Zahra Mohammadi Golpayegani.

Beginning Saturday, Iran will hold a dayslong funeral for Khamenei, and his body will be transported to cities in both Iran and neighboring Iraq. Authorities plan to shut down streets, airspace and daily life in Tehran as mourners commemorate the life of Khamenei, who led Iran for decades with an iron fist while confronting the West.

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Iranian religious leaders and other mourners pay their respects before the coffins of slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of his family during a viewing ceremony ahead of the dayslong funeral ceremonies at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran, Friday, July 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

The coffins of slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, center on top, and members of his family are displayed ahead of the dayslong funeral ceremonies at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran, Friday, July 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Revolutionary Guard members and clerics mourn on the esplanade of the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Grand Mosque as preparations are underway ahead of the dayslong funeral ceremonies for slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Iran, Friday, July 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Foreign religious leaders and other mourners walk past the coffins of slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of his family during a viewing ceremony ahead of the dayslong funeral ceremonies at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran, Friday, July 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

The casket of slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's granddaughter, Zahra Mohammadi Golpayegani, is displayed alongside the caskets of Khamenei and other members of his family during a viewing ceremony ahead of the dayslong funeral ceremonies at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran, Friday, July 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iran's Basij paramilitary forces set up a checkpoint at a square ahead of the funeral ceremonies of slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, shown at the billboard at rear, in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

The coffin of slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is carried into the Mosalla Grand Mosque ahead of his funeral ceremonies in Tehran, Iran, Friday, July 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

In this photo released by Iran's Supreme Leader's office, Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Gen. Ahmad Vahidi sits alongside Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei casket as it lies in a mourning hall adjacent to the Imam Khomeini Hussainiya within the Supreme Leader's compound before his funeral in Tehran, Iran, late Thursday, July 2, 2026. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

A portrait of slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and an Iranian flag are displayed in the window of a book store ahead of Khamenei's funeral ceremonies, in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

In this photo released by Iran's Supreme Leader's office, mourners react as they gather around the coffin of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as it lies in a mourning hall adjacent to the Imam Khomeini Hussainiya within the Supreme Leader's compound before his funeral in Tehran, Iran, late Thursday, July 2, 2026. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

In this photo released by Iran's Supreme Leader's office, mourners gather around the coffin of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as it lies in a mourning hall adjacent to the Imam Khomeini Hussainiya within the Supreme Leader's compound before his funeral in Tehran, Iran, late Thursday, July 2, 2026. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

In this photo released by Iran's Supreme Leader's office, mourners gather around the coffin of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as it lies in a mourning hall adjacent to the Imam Khomeini Hussainiya within the Supreme Leader's compound before his funeral in Tehran, Iran, late Thursday, July 2, 2026. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)