Wales 1-1 Switzerland: Fortunate Wales earn point in EURO 2020 opener
Cardiff, Wales. 5th June 2021. Keiffer Moore of Wales in action Wales v Albania friendly at the Cardiff City Stadium on the 5th June 2021. Credit: Lewis Mitchell/YCPD.
Kieffer Moore scored an all-important equaliser as Wales drew 1-1 in their EURO 2020 opener with Switzerland at the Baku Olympic Stadium.
Breel Embolo opened the scoring for the Swiss just after half time followed by a brilliant Kieffer Moore equaliser in the 73rd minute.
Cymru started brightly but it was Vladimir Petkovic’s side who dominated large parts of the proceedings, with a possession percentage of 64%.
Wales will certainly be the happier of the two sides who now sit on one point after matchday one in group A. They are both back in action against Turkey and Italy respectively on Wednesday.
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Wales showed promise early on breaking the Swiss line on a couple of occasions and the first real chance of the game came for the Red Dragons 15 minutes in.
The eventual goal scorer Moore rose well to meet a Dan James cross, only to be denied by the flying Yann Sommer in the Swiss goal.
Manchester United winger James then showed what he could do when running at Schar, who brought down James, earning him the first yellow.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe tide then began to turn, and Switzerland took control. First Fabian Schar forced Danny Ward to a save at his near post before Haris Seferovic turned well but fired wide of the target.
The Benfica target man spurned another opportunity before missing one of the best chances of the half. Embolo held off Mepham well before laying it into the path of Seferovic, who couldn’t finish.
Switzerland started the second half rapidly and Danny Ward made a top save straight away from Embolo as he raced in on goal. But from the resulting corner Embolo made amends.
The Monchengladbach striker met Xherdan Shaqiri’s corner to put the Swiss in the driving seat just five minutes after the break.
Petkovic brought Shaqiri off for the more defensive Denis Zakaria on 65 minutes, as they looked to keep hold of the ball and see the game out.
Embed from Getty ImagesBut not long after, when Rob Page’s side looked down and out, they were back in it. A short corner made space for Joe Morrell who found the head of Moore, who glanced beautifully past Sommer to put the scoreline at 1-1.
That’s now an impressive return of six goals in 18 Wales games for the Cardiff City striker, who came into the tournament off the back of his best ever season in club football.
Danny Ward saved well from both Embolo and Mario Gavranovic in the closing stages, but it seemed to be despair for Cymru with four minutes left on the clock.
It was Gavranovic that had the ball in the back of the net sparked wild celebrations from the Swiss players. Thankfully for Wales, it was VAR to the rescue as the Dinamo Zagreb striker was deemed just offside.
Wales unlike Switzerland will have counted themselves lucky in this game and will now head into the match against Turkey, again in Baku, with high spirits and confidence.
Wales manager Rob Page said: “I think to get off to a positive start was important for us
“I see that as a positive, to go behind against quality opposition in Switzerland and show endeavour to come back and get the equaliser is credit to the players.
“There’s aspects we’d like to improve on but in the main it’s a positive to get off to a good start.”
Wales: Danny Ward, Connor Roberts, Chris Mepham, Joe Rodon, Ben Davies, Joe Allen, Joe Morrell, Aaron Ramsey (Ethan Ampadu, 90+30, Dan James (David Brooks, 75), Kieffer Moore, Gareth Bale (C)
Goals:
Yellow Cards: Kieffer Moore 47,
Switzerland: Sommer; Elvedi, Schar, Akanji; Mbabu, Xhaka (c), Freuler, Rodriguez; Embolo, Shaqiri (Zakaria 66), Seferovic (Gavranovic 84)
Goals: Embolo 50′
