Wales vs Switzerland Summary: 06/12/2021

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June 13th 2021, 1:31 pm
Last Updated 3 years ago
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Wales came from behind against Switzerland to snatch a 1-1 draw in Baku in their opening match of EURO 2020 as they salvaged a vital point.

Swiss striker Breel Embolo was a constant thorn in the side of the Welsh defence and it was no surprise to see him open the scoring just four minutes into the second half. However, Robert Page’s men hit back with 16 minutes left on the clock as Kieffer Moore equalised with a beautiful glancing header.

This was hardly a game for the purists as neither team hit the ground running in a low key first half. Switzerland enjoyed more of the ball and edged the chances, but neither side really did enough to merit a lead going into half-time.

Vladimir Petković’s men came out of the blocks after half-time with the dangerous Embolo looking sharp and he came close to opening the deadlock just before the goal as sprinted through to force a superb save from Wales keeper Danny Ward.

He was not to be denied from the resulting corner however as he rose to power home a header from Xherdan Shaqiri’s corner beyond Ward.

The Swiss had chances to double their lead but they will arguably rue the decision to bring Shaqiri off for Denis Zakaria as they looked to tighten things up defensively.

That move allowed Wales to push forward and create some pressure of their own as Switzerland’s passiveness backfired.

As Wales started to enjoy more territorial advantage and their best attacking spell of the game, the vital equaliser came. Joe Morrell floated a lovely cross from the right-hand side and there was Moore to glance home and level things up.

There were plenty of moments of nervousness late in the game and the Swiss thought they had claimed a winner when substitute Mario Gavranović thought he had scored just moments after coming on the pitch. Much to the relief of the Welsh contingent however, VAR came to the rescue and Gavranović was adjudged to be marginally offside.

The Swiss managed to earn a number of late corners as they piled the pressure on but Wales held firm thanks to some superb goalkeeping from Ward.

A point apiece and that equaliser could well prove important for Wales who face Turkey next on Wednesday in Baku once again. With Italy to come in their final game, Robert Page will know his side have to get another positive result in that match and they will be confident after seeing the Turkish side struggle so badly against Italy in their opening game.