A stunner in Santa Clara
Steve Carp
Host · Writer
SANTA CLARA, Calif. —Call it the billion-dollar header.
With time running short and trailing 1-0, Qatar’s Homam Ahmed sent a cross from the left side into the penalty area where captain Boualem Khoukhi went up and headed the ball past Switzerland goalkeeper Gregor Kubel to tie the match in the 94th minute and ultimately end in a 1-1 draw before 67,966 stunned, sun-baked fans Saturday at Levi’s Stadium, which had a noticeable number of seats that were empty.
For Qatar, which hosted the last World Cup in 2022, there are high hopes for a successful run here in the U.S. and Canada. The government has invested heavily in the national team since 2004, pumping in an estimated $1.4 billion to develop players and find the right coaching to give the country a presence on the world soccer stage.
Watching the celebration on the field and in the stands behind the Swiss goal, it’s safe to say the investment has paid off as the team celebrated its first-ever World Cup point.
Qatar coach Julen Lopetegui said: “I was very proud about today. Our mentality, the discipline they showed today. We needed to have our plan we needed to fulfill. We were a little bit lucky sometimes, but you need to believe and to want to have this belief and bit of luck in life and in football.”
This is what happens at the World Cup. When you don’t finish what you start and don’t execute for all 90-plus minutes, it comes back to haunt you. And yes, the Swiss will be haunted by this result as it failed to garner the three points in their Group B opener and had to settle for one.
“Every draw feels like a loss, for sure,” said Swiss midfielder and captain Granit Xhaka. “That’s not the result we wanted and our performance was not good enough to win.”
The Qataris obviously felt elated by the one point.
“It was a very difficult match,” said Qatar forward Akram Afif. “They have more experience than us. But to score in the last minute is big for us.
“It’s important to have positive results in the World Cup. We would like to get three points in our next match, But we’re happy with the one point we got today.”
For most of Saturday, the Maroons didn’t appear to be on even footing with their Swiss counterparts. They were on the receiving end of multiple forays throughout and save for Emilson Junior’s two shot attempts, there was virtually no attack to speak of.
The Swiss had taken a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute on a penalty kick by Breel Embolo after Qatar goalkeeper Mahmoud Abunada had collided with Remo Freuler. Not only were the Swiss awarded the PK but Abunada was booked with a yellow card for instigating the contact.
Yet Abunada shook off the incident and turned in a stellar performance to keep this side in it. He would finish with five saves and took home “Man of the Match” honors.
“It was very, very hard,” he said. “But this was a very important result for us. Hopefully this helps us in our next matches.”
He’s not lying. Switzerland had an edge in virtually every statistical category, from shots (26-7) to possession time (68 percent) to passing accuracy (526 to 200). Yet, it took a penalty kick to get on the scoreboard.
For the Swiss, you can only imagine the soul-searching that will be taking place as it tries to move forward. This doesn’t figure to be an easy one to recover from.
“We have to (bounce back),” Xhaka said. “It will be hard, both physically and mentally. Hopefully we can analyze the game, see what we need to do better and get ready for the next match.”
That’ll be on Thursday in Los Angeles against Bosnia-Herzegovina, a match that figures to be physical and tightly contested.
Qatar? It has to travel up to Vancouver to face host Canada at B.C. Place also on Thursday in what will be a frenzied atmosphere. The Canadians are part of the logjam that is Group B with all four teams having earned just a single point. Canada drew 1-1 in its opener with Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The Qataris won’t have to deal with the heat next week. Of course, 90 degrees is a nothing burger for the Maroons. It was 110 in Doha Saturday. And after withstanding the heat on the field and the heat brought on by the Swiss for 94 minutes, they can probably handle anything.
