Switzerland dominates Northern Ireland to earn 1-0 World Cup qualifying playoff win

Switzerland have gained a huge advantage after the opening leg of their 2018 World Cup qualifying playoff tie against Northern Ireland, netting an away goal and keeping a clean sheet thanks to a tremendous performance in Belfast.

The second-half penalty converted by Ricardo Rodriguez gave the Swiss a 1-0 win and a major edge in the tie before heading back home next week.

It was obvious from early in the match that Switzerland were the faster, more aggressive team, putting Northern Ireland on their heels early and keeping them there almost all match long — especially when working up the left side where they were supported by the playmaking brilliance of left-back Rodriguez — who absolutely destroyed poor Northern Ireland right back Ryan McLaughlin all match long — Switzerland absolutely dominated the run of play.

At one point late in the first half, Switzerland had seen almost 75 percent of the total possession in the match, and that figure wouldn’t go much further down the rest of the night, still holding a 70 percent number in the waning minutes of the game. The way the Swiss were moving the ball around at pace seemed to have Northern Ireland absolutely scattered and without answers, because time after time Michael O’Neill’s side was left scrambling and desperate in defense.

The biggest thing holding the Swiss back from scoring early and often was, in all honesty, themselves. Xherdan Shaqiri had a couple of bad misses, and Haris Seferovic had a night in front of goal that can only be described as “miserable.”

He was repeatedly caught offside, and on the few occasions he was onside with a scoring chance, he suffered from poor touch after poor touch or would softly put his shot straight at Michael McGovern in the Northern Ireland goal. The rest of their play, though — especially from Rodriguez and midfielder Denis Zakaria — was stellar, and they dominated the vast majority of the match.

Northern Ireland would have a few chances of their own through a number of set pieces, but poor execution left few of those chances offering any sort of danger, especially on free kicks where service was often particularly poor. Part of their struggle came from captain and key winger Stuart Dallas taking a heavy knock early in the match. But Switzerland’s midfield dominated the center of the park to an extent that Northern Ireland’s front line was completely starved of quality open-play service.

Their fans were unhappy at the performance to say the least, and they were left livid when the Romanian referee called for a penalty when a Shaqiri volley found the upper arm of Corry Evans at the edge of the box.

Commentators claimed the ball hit the midfielder’s back and that the referee was out of position to see the incident anyway. But replays appeared to show the ball hit Evans’ arm as it was held slightly away from his body, and the ref awarded the penalty despite all the protests. Rodriguez stepped up to the penalty spot and converted it with ease.

That goal was all the difference in this match, and it was all that the Swiss needed and more thanks to holding off a late charge from Northern Ireland. They were hoping to at least keep a clean sheet in Belfast to make the most of their home-field advantage in the second leg next week against Northern Ireland, but instead they got that and an away goal to put even more pressure on their opponents in the second leg. This is Switzerland’s tie to control — the question now is how will Northern Ireland respond with their backs to the wall.

Northern Ireland: Michael McGovern; Ryan McLaughlin, Gareth McAuley, Jonny Evans, Chris Brunt; Steven Davis, Oliver Norwood, Corry Evans (George Saville 65’); Josh Magennis, Kyle Lafferty (Conor Washington 78’), Stuart Dallas (Jamie Ward 52’)

Goals: None

Switzerland: Yann Sommer; Stephan Lichtsteiner, Fabian Schar, Manuel Akanji, Ricardo Rodriguez; Granit Xhaka, Denis Zakaria, Blerim Dzemaili (Fabian Frei 83’); Xherdan Shaqiri, Haris Seferovic (Breel Embolo 77’), Steven Zuber (Admir Mehmedi 87’)

Goals: Rodriguez (pen. 58’)