Three point two four. That is the expected goals total Switzerland racked up and somehow still did not win with.
Qatar drew 1-1 with Switzerland at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on June 14, 2026, in their Group B opener at the World Cup. Breel Embolo converted a 17th-minute penalty for Switzerland, and Boualem Khoukhi’s stoppage-time header, deflected in off Miro Muheim, secured Qatar’s first ever World Cup point in the 90th-plus-4th minute. Switzerland finished with 3.20 expected goals to Qatar’s 0.60, numbers that make this one of the more lopsided draws the tournament will produce.
Here is the direct version. Final score 1-1. Embolo scored from the penalty spot in the 17th minute. Khoukhi headed in the equalizer in second-half stoppage time, with the goal recorded as a Muheim own goal after the header deflected in off the Swiss substitute. Switzerland had 26 shots to Qatar’s six.
Switzerland started faster, and it showed inside the opening minute.
Embolo fired over early, then Edmilson Junior nearly punished Switzerland’s slack start at the other end, only for Gregor Kobel to keep out a clean strike from 15 yards. Dan Ndoye then forced a save from Mahmoud Abunada and sent a follow-up effort over the bar, two warnings that Qatar’s defense largely ignored.
The penalty arrived after Remo Freuler latched onto a flicked header from Embolo and was caught by a clumsy challenge from Abunada, who needed treatment afterward. Embolo sent his penalty low to the goalkeeper’s left in the 17th minute, calm enough that the earlier VAR check for offside barely registered as a delay.
That should have been the platform for a comfortable night. It was not.
Switzerland kept missing. Aebischer saw a goal-bound effort cleared off the line in first-half stoppage time. Vargas curled an attempt straight at Abunada. Embolo himself shot wide from a tight angle in the 76th minute after Johan Manzambi sprung him clean through, the kind of chance that usually settles matches rather than extends them.
Here’s the thing Qatar barely had to defend well, because Switzerland kept defending their own chances for them.
Qatar managed zero shots on target through the entire second half until the very end, content to sit deep and absorb pressure that, by rights, should have buried them. Lopetegui’s side were not good. They were simply still there when it mattered.
Homam Ahmed found space down the left in stoppage time and crossed to the back post, where Khoukhi rose above Muheim and powered a header goalward. The ball deflected in off the Swiss defender, and Qatar had their goal.
Switzerland racked up 22 shots before that moment, their most in a World Cup match since 1966, and still walked away with a single point. Embolo and his teammates dominated nearly every meaningful number on the sheet. None of it counted for anything once Khoukhi got his head to the cross.
Khoukhi leaves Santa Clara as the reason Qatar exist in this tournament at all. Switzerland leave wondering how 3.20 expected goals produced one actual one.