Nürnberg's Josip Drmic and Bayern's Xherdan Shaqiri were the heroes as Switzerland beat Honduras 3-0 to advance to the last 16 in style
Shaqiri bagged a hat-trick with three brilliant finishes, two of them from Drmic assists, with fiver other Bundesliga-based players starting the game
On Day 14's earlier matches, Emir Spahic of Leverkusen (r.) helped Bosnia and Herzegovina sign off with a win against Iran
Munich - FC Bayern München wing wizard Xherdan Shaqiri scored the 50th hat-trick in World Cup history and the first for Switzerland since the 1954 version of the competition as Ottmar Hitzfeld's troops marched on into the round of 16 to set up a knockout tie with Group F winners Argentina.
Elsewhere, Bosnia and Herzegovina bowed out of the 2014 FIFA World Cup on a high note after beating Iran 3-1 with four Bundesliga players playing their part in the victory. As ever, bundesliga.com is on hand to round-up all the results involving Bundesliga stars from Germany’s top two flights…
Honduras 0-3 Switzerland
Xherdan Shaqiri scored all three goals as Switzerland bounced back from their 5-2 humbling at the hands of France to book their place in the 2014 FIFA World Cup round of 16 courtesy of a 3-0 win over Honduras in Manaus.
Shaqiri steals the show
One of the pre-tournament dark horses, who named seven Bundesliga players in their starting line-up, put Honduras to the grind early in the first-half. Bayern starlet Shaqiri proved to be at the centre of the Nati’s good work, rewarding himself with two well-taken goals, the first a trademark effort cutting in off the right flank and the second a tidy finish after collecting a Josip Drmic through ball.
Honduras enjoyed a bright spell after the restart, but soon found themselves on the back foot with Shaqiri, Drmic and Admir Mehmedi regularly combing to great effect. Ottmar Hitzfeld’s charges were finally living up to hype and Shaqiri duly rounded off his hat-trick at the end of another clinical counter-attack with Drmic once again providing the assist. Switzerland thus leap-frog Ecuador, for whom VfB Stuttgart's Carlos Gruezo did not feature in the 0-0 draw with France, into second place.
Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-1 Iran
Bosnia and Herzegovina ended an historic, yet disappointing 2014 FIFA World Cup campaign with a convincing 3-1 win over Iran to prevent nation from reaching the Round of 16.
Salihovic and Ibisevic make impact
VfB Stuttgart's Vedad Ibisevic was handed his first start of the competition as he joined fellow Bundesliga duo Emir Spahic of and Sead Kolasinac in featuring from the off. Scorer of the Balkan side’s first ever World Cup goal in the loss to Argentina, the 29-year-old striker proved an effective foil for ex-VfL Wolfsburg front man Edin Dzeko, who opened the scoring after 23 minutes.
There were worrying moments at the end of the first half when Spahic was stretchered off, but in keeping with his character the Bayer 04 Leverkusen defender returned to the action to battle on. After Miralem Pjanic extended the lead on the hour mark, Sejad Salihovic played a picture-perfect pass allowing Avdija Vrsajevic to produce an immediate response to Reza Ghoochannejad reducing the arrears, ensuring Bosnia avoided finishing bottom of Group F with a first ever World Cup win.