SwiftUI: matchedGeometryEffect not transitioning smoothly - swift

Question

I have a list of countries. Each row has an image of a country as the background. I used to have it where clicking on a country row would navigate to a new view that displayed info on the country but I am testing out using the same view to accomplish this. I am setting the state of selectedCountry when tapping a country item and trying to use matchedGeometryEffect to make the image transition. Each country has hardcoded JSON data so the id field is a hardcoded ID coming from a JSON. I ensured the id and namespace match but I am still seeing a "flash" transition rather than a smooth one I would expect.
struct ContentView: View {
#Namespace var namespace;
#Binding var countries: [Country(id: 0, display_name: "USA", image: "image_1"), Country(id: 1, display_name: "Canada", image: "image_2")]
#State var selectedCountry: Country?;
var body: some View {
if (selectedCountry != nil) {
VStack {
Text("mainImage-\(self.selectedCountry!.id)")
Image("\(selectedCountry!.image)-bg")
.resizable()
.scaledToFit()
.edgesIgnoringSafeArea(.all)
.overlay(Rectangle().opacity(0.2))
.matchedGeometryEffect(id: "main\(self.selectedCountry!.id)", in: namespace)
.mask(
LinearGradient(gradient: Gradient(colors: [Color.black, Color.black.opacity(0)]), startPoint: .center, endPoint: .bottom)
)
Spacer()
Text("test close")
.onTapGesture {
selectedCountry = nil
}
}
}
if (selectedCountry == nil) {
GeometryReader { bounds in
ScrollView {
ForEach(Array(filteredCountries.enumerated()), id: \.1.id) { (index,country) in
LazyVStack {
ZStack(alignment: .bottom) {
Text("mainImage-\(country.id)")
Image("\(country.image)-bg")
.resizable()
.scaledToFit()
.edgesIgnoringSafeArea(.all)
.overlay(Rectangle().opacity(0.2))
.matchedGeometryEffect(id: "main\(country.id)", in: namespace)
.mask(
LinearGradient(gradient: Gradient(colors: [Color.black, Color.black.opacity(0)]), startPoint: .center, endPoint: .bottom)
)
}
}
.onTapGesture {
withAnimation() {
self.selectedCountry = country;
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
EDIT: Adding gif below to show the broken behavior: