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 it was only able to find the back of the net through a penalty in the first half. Instead, it wasted chance after chance to put the game away, allowed Qatar to hang around, and were ultimately punished for it. Deep into second half stoppage time, 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 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… [TheTopNews] Read More.
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