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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport

Qatar beat Switzerland: 2022 World Cup hosts stun Swiss with 1-0 win

Akram Afif scored a late winner as Qatar stunned Switzerland 1-0 in their international friendly on Wednesday.

The Villarreal striker, on loan at Al Sadd, scored the winner with four minutes left as the 96th-ranked team in the world beat the eight-placed Swiss in Lugano.

Afif latched onto Karim Boudiaf's pass following a break to round goalkeeper Yvon Mvogo and tap into an unguarded net.

Switzerland were not without big-name players either, with the likes of Arsenal's Granit Xhaka and Liverpool's Xherdan Shaqiri both featuring in the defeat.

(EPA)

Qatar's last win over a European nation came against Andorra in 2017 although they beat Ecuador, 61st in the world, 4-3 last month.

They have won four of their five internationals this season, their only blip being a 2-0 loss to Uzbekistan, and face Iceland next week.

Qatar's World Cup debut will come when they host the tournament in 2022.

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