Northern Ireland v Lithuania (12/11/2021)

WORDS: NIGEL T ILSON

TEN-MAN NORTHERN IRELAND BEATEN BY SWISS Northern Ireland lost 2-0 to Switzerland in a FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifier in Geneva last month.

Ian Baraclough’s team produced a dogged and gritty performance as they repelled a Swiss onslaught for most of the game. But Switzerland scored at the end of each half - through Steven Zuber and Christian Fassnacht - to secure the victory in the Stade de Geneve. Northern Ireland played for nearly two-thirds of the match with 10 men. Jamal Lewis, who had been booked earlier in the half for dragging back Breel Embolo, was controversially sent off by Slovakian referee Slavko Vincic after 37 minutes. The ref produced a second yellow for time wasting as the wing back was attempting to take a throw-in. Switzerland opened the scoring deep into added time in the first half. Embolo and Zuber raced forward from the halfway line as a couple of Northern Ireland defenders backpedalled. Embolo got a lucky deflection from an attempted strike and prodded the ball to Zuber who smashed it low past Bailey Peacock-Farrell into the corner of the net . After the break Peacock-Farrell produced an excellent save from a point blank Embolo effort

and another from a close range strike by Swiss substitute Fabian Schar. The winner came in the 91st minute and Embolo was involved once again. He got in behind the white wall and slipped the ball to substitute Fassnacht who swept the ball home. Northern Ireland: Bailey Peacock-Farrell , Jamal Lewis, Paddy McNair (captain) , Daniel Ballard, Craig Cathcart , Ciaron Brown, George Saville, Stuart Dallas, Steven Davis (captain) , Conor Washington, Jordan Thompson. Substitutes: (used) Josh Magennis, Jordan Jones, Shane Ferguson, Conor Bradley; (unused) Conor Hazard (GK) , Liam Hughes (GK) , Tom Flanagan, Niall McGinn, Dion Charles, Carl Winchester, Paul Smyth, Alfie McCalmont . Switzerland: Yann Sommer, Kevin Mbabu, Ricardo Rodriguez, Nico Elvedi, Manuel Akanji, Denis Zakaria, Steven Zuber, Remo Freuler, Renato Steffen, Breel Embolo, Xerdan Shaqiri (captain) . Substitutes: Jonas Omlin (GK) , David von Ballmoos (GK) , Silvan Widmer, Albian Ajeti, Michel Aebischer, Djibril Sow, Christian Fassnacht , Eray Comert , Ulisses Garcia, Mario Gavranovic, Cedric Itten, Fabian Schar.

IRISHFA.COM

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