SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Qatar may finally be able to move on from its forgotten homeland world cup Four years ago, they played Group B favorites Switzerland on Saturday and scored a goal in stoppage time to earn them a shock 1-1 draw.
And oh, what a mistake this mighty Swiss made!
A TV headline on his home country’s French-language public broadcaster RTS blared: “Qatar Strophy.”
In front of a crowd of 67,966 at Levi’s Stadium, Boualem Kuki headed home the equalizer in the fourth minute of stoppage time, giving Qatar their first World Cup point.
“Every draw feels like a loss,” said Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka. “We are looking at ourselves. Today’s performance was not good enough to win.”
Some of Qatar’s players fell to the ground celebrating the late goal, while others ran towards each other to hug.
Qatar coach Julen Lopetegui said: “I’m very proud of today… the mentality and discipline they showed today.” “We had to make a plan to achieve it. There were times when we got a little bit lucky, but in life and in football you have to have this faith and hope for good luck.”
Just over a week since Bril Embolo scored for Switzerland from the penalty spot in the first half authorized to enter the United States Despite scoring following a visa delay, the Swiss failed to capitalize on multiple other scoring chances.
Swiss midfielder Denis Zakaria was asked by RTS whether the outcome was a catastrophic scenario.
“Obviously,” he said. “We didn’t play as well as we needed to. We had a lot of chances, but we missed a lot in front of goal. We paid a high price today.”
In the 13th minute, Embolo was fouled by Qatar goalkeeper Mahmoud Abunada and received a yellow card for this play. Abunada lay on his stomach and appeared motionless for several minutes, but then he began to move his legs and was able to stand up again.
In the 17th minute, Embolo calmly converted a penalty into the top left corner, sending the red-clad Swiss fans into a frenzy in the stands.
The 29-year-old forward applied for an emergency visa at the U.S. Embassy in Bern on June 3, one day after entering the country. The team was denied boarding the plane. He will be playing in his third World Cup due to his 2018 conviction, which was only finalized in April.
On an unseasonably warm June afternoon, Switzerland dominated the possession game as the sprinklers came on during the first-half break.
There were thousands of empty seats. They are scattered throughout Levi’s Stadium, home of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers. Brazil and Colombia In the Copa America group match two years ago, the draw was 70,971. The Santa Clara stadium super bowl Only 4 months ago.
Two minutes into the game, Edmilson Junior broke through the defense in a one-on-one situation and was saved by Swiss goalkeeper Gregor Kobel. Korbel won the ball again in the 90th minute with a shot from close range by Ahmed Alaeldin.
Switzerland will be hoping to improve on their last-16 finish four years ago, when they lost 6-1 to Portugal, with Gonzalo Ramos replacing star Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench and scoring an unlikely hat-trick. The loss prompted Swiss midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri to apologize to the fans.
Switzerland used consistency and experience to go undefeated through qualifying against Sweden, Kosovo and Slovenia. Coach Murat Yakin’s side have won four games and drawn two, qualifying for the World Cup for the sixth year in a row and haven’t missed a spot since 2002, but the team has never made it past the quarter-finals.
Qatar missed out on a spot in the group stage during the Asian qualifiers and had to beat the United Arab Emirates and Oman in a play-off in November to qualify.
The Gulf state nation became the first host nation to lose all their group games four years ago. Qatar lost to Senegal, Ecuador and the Netherlands in the 2022 tournament, scoring the only goal in a 3-1 loss to Senegal.
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AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed to this report.
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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/fifa-world-cup
