Top-ranked Belgium fell to a stunning 5-2 loss against Switzerland on Sunday, with Haris Seferovic's hat trick lifting his team into the UEFA Nations League finals.
Belgium led 2-0 after 17 minutes thanks to Thorgan Hazard's two goals and was cruising toward the inaugural Final Four to be hosted by Portugal in June.
Only defeat by a two-goal margin could deny Belgium winning the group — and a Swiss team inspired by Xherdan Shaqiri hit back with five unanswered strikes.
The shock was on in the 62nd minute when defender Nico Elvedi made up for a bad early error to put Switzerland 4-2 up with a glancing header.
Seferovic sealed the victory by getting his third with a header in the 84th after Shaqiri's trickery set up Kevin Mbabu for a cross.
Switzerland won Group 2 in League A on the head-to-head record because both teams had nine points from four games, and Belgium beat the Swiss by just 2-1 in Brussels last month.
The tiebreaker option seemed moot when Thorgan Hazard scored after 66 seconds and again in the 17th minute.
But Switzerland struck three times in an 18-minute spell before halftime, and kept up the pressure in the second half.
A wild match played out in a noisy, intimate 16,000-capacity stadium in Lucerne. It also recalled Belgium's stunning 3-2 comeback win over Japan in the World Cup round of 16 in July — only this time it was the Red Devils wasting a two-goal lead.
Belgium quickly led when captain Eden Hazard's brother Thorgan seized on a bad mistake. Thorgan Hazard had been offside when a forward pass went directly to Elvedi, but the defender misplayed the ball behind him into space. Thorgan Hazard, now onside because of the opponent's pass, pounced to flick the ball over goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
In the 17th, Thorgan Hazard was allowed to move into the Swiss penalty area and fired an angled shot past Elvedi and the diving Sommer, his teammates at Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Switzerland now had to score at least four goals to edge the tiebreaker — and had three by halftime.
A penalty by Ricardo Rodriguez in the 26th was awarded for Nacer Chadli's foul on right-back Mbabu. Minutes later Rodriguez crossed for Shaqiri to guide a header across the goalmouth for Seferovic to tap in as goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois scrambled in vain.
Seferovic then swept in a curling shot with his weaker right foot. His 16th goal for Switzerland came one year after he was booed off the field by home fans in a World Cup playoff despite the team advancing.
England reaches Nations League finals with Croatia win
Harry Kane's goalless streak was only five minutes from extending to eight games when the captain finally found the net again for England.
As Ben Chilwell floated a free kick into the penalty area, Kane slid in, stretched out his right foot and nudged the ball into the Croatia net.
It came four months too late to secure a place for England in the World Cup final. But the World Cup Golden Boot winner ensured England went some way to avenging the Moscow semifinal loss to Croatia by turning the tables with a 2-1 victory at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
While England advanced to the final four of the inaugural UEFA Nations League, Croatia was relegated to the second tier.
Any doubts about what soccer's newest international competition means to England were dispelled in the relief and glee on Kane's face as he darted toward the crowd in celebration before being leapt on by Jesse Lingard as the Wembley crowd roared.
Rarely in the 11 years since English soccer's national stadium was rebuilt has there been such tension for an international game. Not, perhaps, since the opening months when England was beaten by Croatia and denied a place at the 2008 European Championship.
"I've never seen (Wembley) like this in an England shirt," the 25-year-old Kane said. "We are going to enjoy it so I hope the fans do too."
For a competition that only debuted in September — to replace some largely meaningless friendlies — it has been quickly embraced in soccer's often-cynical heartland. The comeback from such a young side demonstrated a fortitude so often missing from a country that hasn't won a major title since the 1966 World Cup.
"The most important thing is the connection with the fans," England coach Gareth Southgate said. "The energy that came back to the team in those difficult moments helped us get over the line."
Now England has seven months to contemplate just how meaningful winning the Nations League would be in June. Portugal secured the hosting by winning its group on Saturday. Belgium or Switzerland will seal the third spot on Sunday night, before France or the Netherlands complete the lineup on Monday.
"It's another semifinal, two wins away from winning a trophy," Kane said. "We showed that we can beat the big teams. Croatia and Spain are two of the very best in the world. So this is kind of our next step after the summer."
Croatian players have said since July that they were inspired in the semifinal by what they perceived as arrogant undertones in the "Football's Coming Home" lyric in the "Three Lions" team anthem. Croatia went on to lose to France in the World Cup final.
The song was played immediately after the final whistle on Sunday and even cited by Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic to congratulate England.
"It's coming home," Dalic said in his only post-match comments in English. "Very soon."
Fatigued after going the distance to beat Spain on Thursday, Croatia was unsettled throughout the first half by England's pace. But Croatia found its stride in the second half, taking the lead after 12 minutes after cutting through England down the right.
Josip Brekalo played in Nikola Vlasic, who cut the ball across to Andrej Kramaric. Switching the ball between his feet, the midfielder twisted unchallenged before raising a shot into the roof of the net, via a deflection off Eric Dier's thigh.
"We let a soft goal in," Southgate said, "and it is a real test of resilience and patience."
The game turned on Southgate's double substitution in the 73rd minute that saw Jadon Sancho and Lingard enter. The impact was felt within five minutes and the set pieces that served England so well on the run to its first World Cup semifinal in 28 years proved decisive again.
Joe Gomez's long throw-in was headed down by Kane through the legs of Hrvoje Millic and Lingard tapped in from close range for his second goal in two games after scoring in a 3-0 friendly win against the Unites States on Thursday.
At the other end, Lingard came to England's rescue. Domagoj Vida's header had beaten goalkeeper Jordan Pickford but Lingard cleared off line.
Parity was maintained but England was still facing relegation from Group A4. Only a win would secure top-tier status and with it a place in the semifinals.
For the first time since the last-16 World Cup game against Colombia, and after 747 frustrating minutes, Kane found the target in an England shirt again.
"Harry is the best goalscorer in the world," Southgate said. "We have huge belief in him. He is so hungry to lead the team on and further."