FIFA 2026: Qatar Stuns Switzerland 1-1 With Injury Time Goal

Santa Carla: Qatar might be able to finally move forward from its forgettable home World Cup four years ago, scoring a stoppage-time goal to earn a shocking 1-1 draw with Group B favorite Switzerland on Saturday.

Boualem Khoukhi scored the equalizing goal on a header in the fourth minute of injury time to give Qatar its first-ever point at the World Cup in front of 67,966 spectators at Levi’s Stadium.

“Every draw feels like a loss,” Switzerland midfielder Granit Xhaka said. “We’re looking at ourselves. This performance was not good enough today to win.” Several of the Qatari players fell to the ground in celebration of the late goal as others ran to each other to embrace.

“I was very proud about today. Our mentality, the discipline they showed today,” Qatar coach Julen Lopetegui said. “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.”

Breel Embolo scored for Switzerland from the penalty spot in the first half just over a week after being cleared to enter the U.S. following a visa delay, but the Swiss failed to capitalize on multiple other scoring chances.

Switzerland midfielder Denis Zakaria was asked by RTS if the result was a devastating scenario. “Clearly,” he said. “We didn’t play the kind of match we needed to. We had so many chances and we missed so many in front of goal. Today we paid dearly.”