PREVIEW: Previous World Cup hosts Qatar out to make amends against Switzerland | OneFootball

Qatar take on Switzerland in the second match of Group B to kick start their World Cup campaign, looking to make amends for a sorry exit at the group stage as hosts four years ago.

It will be Qatar and Switzerland’s first meeting in a World Cup with the former qualifying in the regular manner this time around. Their only previous meeting came in November 2018, when Qatar secured a 1-0 victory in a friendly match.

Former West Ham and Wolves boss Julen Lopetegui leads the Middle Eastern side, after being appointed in May 2025 – two years on from their Asian Cup triumph over tournament debutants Jordan.

He will be looking to improve on their performance at the 2022 World Cup, where Qatar became the first host nation to lose all three of its group games – scoring one and conceding seven, making them the tournament’s worst-performing nation.

Although there are now 16 more teams competing at this year’s World Cup, there is no room at all for complacency.

Qatar confirmed their place at the 2026 World Cup after beating the United Arab Emirates 2-1 in the Asian qualifying playoffs in October 2025, yet followed it up with a deeply disappointing performance in the 2025 FIFA Arab Cup.

They finished bottom of their group without a win, managing to draw 1-1 with Syria but were defeated by both Tunisia and a 95th-minute own goal handing the victory to eventual quarter-finalists Palestine.

Although some factors in their challenging run in to the tournament World Cup have not been in their control, as friendlies against Serbia, Argentina, and Sudan were all cancelled in response to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Akram Afif is one Qatari player to keep an eye out for this World Cup. The 29-year-old is a technical winger and is considered one of the finest players to surface from Asia in recent years.

Striker Almoez Ali is another key individual, with him being the nation’s record goalscorer. Also aged 29, he has scored 60 goals in 120 games for his nation. He featured in all three games during the 2022 World Cup.

As for Switzerland, they qualified for this year’s World Cup by remaining unbeaten during the qualifiers. They finished top of their group, which consisted of Kosovo, Slovenia and Sweden.

However, it has been a strange start to their World Cup as they have been put on red alert after it was revealed that snakes had surrounded their training camp in San Diego.

Managed by Murat Yakin, who was appointed in 2021. He guided his country to the quarter-finals of the European Championships in 2024, where they were knocked out on penalties by England.

The 51-year-old has been determined to use the defeat two years ago to Switzerland’s advantage, however, saying that the loss “gives us something to dream about.”

Rennes striker Breel Embolo was Switzerland’s top scorer in qualifying with four goals in six matches, and has World Cup experience by way of featuring in their squad for back-to-back tournaments in 2018 and 2022.

Captain Granit Xhaka will be involved in his fourth consecutive World Cup and at 33 appears to be improving as he ages, after an impressive season leading Sunderland to a securing European football for the first time since 1973.

Switzerland quirkily remain the only nation to have gone an entire World Cup having not conceded from open play, keeping four consecutive clean sheets in 2006 before being on penalties by Ukraine in the round of 16.

Both teams face different tasks. Qatar will be hoping they can put up a better display than in 2022 with the pressure of being hosts off of their shoulders, and for the Swiss it’s a matter of going at least one step further than before.

The fixture at Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco kicks off at 20:00 (BST), with live coverage available on ITV1 and ITVX.