Switzerland beat Ireland to keep automatic Euro hopes alive

GENEVA: Haris Seferovic’s early effort and Shane Duffy’s late own goal kept Switzerland’s hopes of automatic qualification for Euro 2020 alive with a 2-0 victory over Ireland.

Although Vladimir Petkovic’s side have already guaranteed a playoff spot via the Nations League, the win means they are just a point behind Group D leaders Ireland and Denmark with two matches remaining in their campaign.

They also have the better of the head-to-head record with the Irish as the two teams drew 1-1 in September.

Ireland’s destiny will come down to their final game of the campaign against Denmark, a match they need to win to qualify.

“They were dominant in the first half but we had a second half we can be proud of,” manager Mick McCarthy told broadcasters Sky Sports.

“It’s a Cup final. Beat Denmark to reach Euro 2020. I would have taken that at the start and I’ll take it now,” he added.

Captain Duffy and rightback Seamus Coleman will both miss the fixture in Dublin after picking up yellow and red cards respectively.

McCarthy, in his second spell as Ireland coach, made three changes from Saturday’s draw at Georgia, handing 19-year-old striker Aaron Connolly his first international start.

Petkovic kept faith in the starting line-up who lost 1-0 to Denmark at the weekend.

The hosts claimed an early lead as Benfica’s Seferovic scored his first international goal since last November after a quarter of an hour. McCarthy’s side’s could have equalised with four minutes of the first half to play but Shane Duffy fired his header straight at goalkeeper Yann Sommer.

Defender Ricardo Rodriguez missed a chance to make sure of all three points when his 77th minute penalty was saved superbly by Darren Randolph.

Everton rightback Seamus Coleman was shown a red card for a hand ball which resulted in the spot-kick.

The home side’s second goal came as Duffy deflected an effort from Edimilson Fernandes in injury time into an empty net.

Switzerland host Georgia on Nov 15 and travel to Gibraltar three days later, the same day Ireland welcome Denmark.