Qatar 1-1 Switzerland: Khouki snatches first World Cup point in 95th minute | OneFootball

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Defender Boualem Khouki’s 95th-minute header snatched a first ever World Cup point for Qatar against Switzerland in only their second ever meeting at the Metlife Stadium.

Rennes striker Breel Embolo’s penalty earned him a 25th goal for his country, putting the Swiss ahead after an action-packed first quarter of an hour and had several further chances to double their advantage in the first half against the subpar former hosts.

Qatar had failed to mount much of a resurgence four years on from becoming the first host nation to exit at the group stage, but Khouki rose highest at the far post as the Swiss grew complacent to dramatically avoid a fifth straight World Cup defeat.

Though it will be a day of celebration for Julian Lopetegui’s side, they must still improve quickly to avoid a second exit before the knockout stages against fired-up co-hosts Canada next Thursday.

As it happened

Both sides missed big chances to seize the lead early on when Junior was allowed in by Manuel Akanji’s complete miskick and put his shot straight at Borussia Dortmund’s Gregor Kobel and Dan Ndoye was then denied by Mahmud Abunada.

Switzerland had worked it nicely with centre midfielder Michel Aebischer threading a lovely through ball into the right winger, whose lack of end product sending a second chance from inside the box over the bar was the only thing keeping the score level.

But the goal did come as Abunada conceded a penalty for taking out Remo Freuler, stretching to be first to Breel Embolo’s header down and taking a thigh to the face – Saíd Martínez had no doubt in his mind pointing to the spot.

Embolo sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to give Switzerland the lead after 17 minutes, reaching a quarter century of international goals on his ninth appearance at the World Cup finals when he was close to missing out on the tournament altogether.

Two further chances went amiss for Ndoye to bad his first ever goal at the tournament, with Abunada on from but the same could not be said for his teammates at the other end of the pitch, who had created little since Junior’s chance two minutes in.

Embolo almost went from goalscorer to provider for Vargas, but Qatar’s goalkeeper bailed them out once again by turning his low drive around the post for a corner before Emboo then set up Aebischer but his strike was cleared off the line.

In a cagey second period devoid of many clear-cut chances, Abunada was on form again to tip over a powerful long-range effort from Granit Xhaka before Embolo came close to a second poking a shot under the goalkeeper and just wide.

Qatar fired a few warning shots as Switzerland grew more casual with the game approaching the six minutes of added time, the best of them coming on the break with not long to spare as substitute Ahmed Alaaeldin fired a tame effort straight at the keeper.

As it looked like they had run out of time, Khouki managed to wrap around experienced left-back Riccardo Rodriguez to power home his header into the net and make history for his country.

It means they end matchday one third in Group B, one place behind Canada due to collecting fewer yellow cards over the 90 minutes that Switzerland walk away from regretting they hadn’t made more of their 26 shots on goal to put the game to bed.

Analysis: historic afternoon for Qatar, but still work to do

Qatar were minutes away from a fifth straight defeat in the World Cup, unable to escape the misery of being the only host nation to bow out at the group stage.

It was a dire tournament four years ago, finishing bottom of their group having lost all of their matches while scoring one goal and conceding seven.

In other words, it made them the worst-performing country at the 2022 World Cup and may well exist as a bad dream that still plagues some of the players’ minds to this day.

But now one of world football’s emerging nations has turned the page to start writing a new chapter in their history, one determined to prove it can compete on the global stage.

While their performance wasn’t pretty for the vast majority of the tie, it is never the attractiveness of your football that wins you matches in tournaments like these.

Though it’s a bad example given the result, South Korea’s intricate passing football in fact had little penetration past Czechia’s defence in the early hours of Saturday, and were a goal down before going a bit more direct and eventually turning things around.

Boulaem Khouki’s header to level the tie in the dying moments was the third-latest equalizer at the World Cup finals, behind Luis Hernandez of Mexico (90+4) in 1998 and, more recently, Silvestre Varela against the USA in 2014.

Goalkeeper Mahmud Abunada was also key to Qatar’s maiden point, making five good saves to keep out the onslaught from Switzerland – preventing 0.47 expected goals in the process.

The 26-year-old was in tears of joy at full time, a sign of the significance of his team’s result on a personal level and across the entire nation.

There is still much work to do if Qatar are going to get a result out of Canada, after the co-hosts had a much improved second half in their 1-1 draw with Bosnia & Herzegovina.

The Middle Eastern side hadn’t created much until their equalizer, which itself looked as though it was unlikely to come until Khouki made history for his country.

But for now, they can celebrate a grand success in the grand scheme of their experience at the World Cup finals thus far.

Analysis: Embolo’s nightmare turns to dream start

When Swizterland’s national team jetted off to San Diego to compete at the 2026 World Cup, one seat on the plane was empty.

That seat belonged to Rennes striker Breel Embolo, whose hopes of competing at his second tournament in a row appeared to have been dashed as late as eight days before it got underway on Thursday.

Embolo was left stranded in Switzerland while his teammates began their final preparations to try and make it past the round of 16 after they were beaten by England on penalties in Qatar four years ago.

Now, he’s just the second Swiss player ever to score at four separate major tournaments, after one of the countries’ best recent players in for Liverpool winger Xherdan Shaquiri.

The reason behind the 29-year-old’s peril was his permission to travel, handled by the United States’ Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), being placed under further review just before departing.

But his national team remained convinced that he would be able to compete. On their social media account, Switzerland players posed for a photo prior to take off that was captioned ‘One seat empty, but not for long. See you soon, Breel Embolo.’

Embolo created three big chances and almost turned provider on two occasions since converting his penalty, which in turn was made as Remo Freuler was fouled trying to get on the end of his header down into the six yard box.

A powerful striker with a powerful right foot, he also brings 87 international caps to the table and already has experience playing at the 2022 World Cup hosted by this evening’s opponents Qatar and had an excellent sense of awareness throughout.

But more importantly, Embolo’s contribution avoided what could have been a shock defeat for Switzerland in only their second ever meeting with Qatar.

A win for the former hosts would have maintained their 100% record across the two matches, having edged a tight friendly encounter by a goal to nil in Lograno eight years ago.

Embolo’s contribution is a silver lining to an otherwise disheartening day for one of Europe’s most consistent nations to take to a football pitch over the past quarter of a century.

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Qatar – Switzerland Live Score