Switzerland arrived at the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup with a realistic goal of making a long run in the knockout stages, but on Sunday, the Swiss turned in a dismal performance where they were only able to find the back of the net through a penalty in the first half
Instead, Switzerland wasted chance after chance to put the game away, allowed Qatar to hang around, and were ultimately punished for it.
Deep into stoppage time in the second half, Qatar took advantage of a rare scoring opportunity as a cross from left back Homam Elamin found veteran central defender Boualem Khoukhi who headed the ball home with authority for a dramatic equalizer.
Minutes later, the final whistle blew, and each team walked away with a point. But the emotions were very different. For Qatar, this was a massive point and its first ever positive result in its World Cup history. For Switzerland, it was an embarrassing two points lost.
The reason is that the two teams came into the tournament in different places. Switzerland performed brilliantly in World Cup qualifying, winning UEFA Group B without losing a game. At Euro 2024, Murat Yakin’s team got out of its group, defeated Italy in the round of 16 and advanced to the quarterfinal where it narrowly lost to England.
Qatar, on the other hand, is coming off the 2022 World Cup where it had the worst campaign of any host nation in the history of the tournament, having lost all three of its games. Its last win came in October and at the 2025 FIFA Arab Cup at the end of the year, Qatar lost all three of its games to Palestine, Syria, and Tunisia.
Even before the game began, it was obvious that Switzerland wanted to dominate while Qatar simply wanted to hang on, perhaps create a chance or two against the run of play, and make sure that the score remained close should goal differential become a decisive factor in determining which of the third place teams advance.
The warning signs were there early for Switzerland. An early turnover gave Qatar a great chance which forced a save. Meanwhile, Switzerland missed a chance while attempting to break down Qatar’s compact defense. It was only from a first half penalty that Breel Embolo was able to find the back of the net.
However, Qatar managed to stay in the game. Even after Embolo moved the Swiss ahead, Qatar did well to stick to its initial game plan. Slowly in the second half, Qatar’s possessions were a little more meaningful. Then in the end, its patience paid off.
Here are my takeaways:
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The defining story from this game is how the Swiss were remarkably wasteful from the run of play. Qatar deserves a lot of credit for keeping its defense organized and compact throughout the entire game, but Switzerland had plenty of chances to score more goals and had the talent put this one away early. Switzerland had more shots today than in any other World Cup match, surpassing the 21 shots it mustered against Togo in 2006 and the 21 it had against Germany in 1966.
Next up for Switzerland will be teams that are far more dangerous offensively in Bosnia & Herzegovina and Canada. The good news for them is that these teams will not sit back quite as deep defensively and the Swiss should have more space to operate. The bad news is that if they continue to waste as many chances, the Swiss will likely be punished even worse.
Scoring goals and finishing chances at this level is often an issue of confidence. Switzerland did not just lose two points, it might have lost the confidence which is needed heading into the more difficult games. We won’t know until the next game how Switzerland responds, but the team’s mindset is a legitimate concern.
(Photo by Eric Verhoeven/Soccrates/Getty Images)
Qatar’s Spanish head coach Julen Lopetegui deserves a lot of credit. When Embolo scored, Qatar could have abandoned its deep-sitting defense and instead tried to play more with Switzerland. Instead, Lopetegui had his team continue to sit back and continued to push for chances on the counterattack.
It was a bold strategy given that Qatar had not scored a goal since December at the Arab Cup. But the plan was that the best chances to earn a result would be to continue sitting deep.
It worked and Qatar kept up the same approach for the entire 90 minutes. Ultimately, it walked away with its first ever World Cup point after losing all three games in its tournament debut in 2022.
(Photo by Eric Verhoeven/Soccrates/Getty Images)
