Wales 1-1 Switzerland match report

Wales and Switzerland played out a 1-1 draw in their Group A game in Baku with both goals coming in the second half after Kieffer Moore cancelled out Breel Embolo’s goal.

Following Italy’s 3-0 destruction of Turkey on Friday night, the two other teams in the group could only manage a point apiece but on the balance of play, it will be Switzerland who will be frustrated they did not win this game.

Wales goalkeeper Danny Ward pulled off a handful of outstanding saves to keep his team in the game and they had a late narrow offside decision go in their favour to help Robert Page’s team grab a point.

The Swiss only had themselves to blame for being wasteful in front of goal while the decision to take off Xherdan Shaqiri for defensive midfielder Denis Zakaria was also cost as they decided to sit on the one-goal advantage after Embolo put them ahead.

That decision allowed Wales to have more possession and territorial advantage, and that ultimately paid off as they grabbed an equaliser thanks to Moore’s lovely glancing header. Despite the late pressure from Switzerland, Wales held on but both teams will be looking to make improvements for their second matches.

MATCH DETAILS

Goals: Embolo 49; Moore 74

Wales line-up: D Ward, C Roberts, B Davies, J Rodon, C Mepham, J Allen, J Morrell, G Bale, A Ramsey (E Ampadu, 89), D James (D Brooks, 75), K Moore

Subs not used: D Levitt, R Norrington-Davies, W Hennessey, A Davies, J Williams, N Williams, T Lockyer, H Wilson, C Gunter, T Roberts

Switzerland line-up: Y Sommer, F Schar, N Elvedi, M Akanji, G Xhaka, R Freuler, K Mbabu, R Rodriguez, H Seferovic (M Gavranovic, 84), B Embolo, X Shaqiri (D Zakaria, 66)

Subs not used: S Widmer, J Omlin, L Benito, Y Mvogo, E Comert, R Vargas, S Zuber, C Fassnacht, D Sow, A Mehmedi

Yellow cards: F Schar, K Mbabu, K Moore

Referee: Clement Turpin (FRA)

Attendance: 8782

Stadium: Baku National Stadium

Man of the Match: Breel Embolo

Group A Table

P W D L F A GD PTS

1 Italy 1 1 0 0 3 0 +3 3

2 Switzerland 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1

3 Wales 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1

4 Turkey 1 0 0 1 0 3 -3 0