Switzerland sparked their campaign into life thanks to the country's youngest goalscorer at the global showpiece since Brazil 1950.
Freiburg star Johan Manzambi made an instant impact after coming on as second-half substitute against Bosnia and Herzegovina, giving the Swiss a belated lead just two minutes following his arrival as Los Angeles Stadium before finding the net again.
When the Swiss were awarded a penalty in the 97th minute, it was thought that 20-year-old Manzambi might be given the opportunity to match the efforts of Argentina legend Lionel Messi and, later, Canada forward Jonathan David and score a hat-trick.
But it was veteran captain Granit Xhaka, taking part in his fourth World Cup, who stepped up to the plate and converted the spot kick to become just the second Swiss player to score at three showpieces following Xherdan Shaqiri.
"Johan is young, he has a big future in front of him. I let experience take precedence and took the penalty this time," the 33-year-old explained afterwards.
The Swiss had been under pressure following a disappointing 1-1 draw with Qatar in their opener. But with Xhaka pulling the strings, they are in a strong position to reach the knockout stages ahead of their crunch clash with in-form Canada in Vancouver on 24 June.
"This victory means a lot because we did not have the start we wanted [against Qatar]. Now we have four points from two games and we played very well," Xhaka added.
"I don't think the second half was much better than the first. The difference was that we scored in the second half and not in the first. Overall, we were good in control... with and without the ball and we created many chances, as we did against Qatar, and we are happy to take the three points. It was very important."
Xhaka felt the second-half substitutions of Manzambi, Ruben Vargas and Djibril Sow transformed the game for the Swiss after they dominated proceedings but struggled to capitalize on their possession. Like Manzambi, Vargas also found the net after his arrival.
"The substitutions were key for me. Everyone needs to be ready and they showed why we have this big squad," he said. "With the quality in the squad there is a lot of competition with each other. The players who came in made a difference for sure."
Sources: FIFA Official
