Not another Swiss miss!
NORTHERN IRELAND SUFFER A SECOND BLOW AGAINST WORLD CUP BOGEY TEAM
NORTHERN IRELAND’S World Cup dream was effectively ended yet again by Switzerland and another controversial refereeing decision.
Four years ago the Irish lost to the Swiss in the World Cup play-offs through a hugely contentious penalty when Corry Evans was penalised after Xherdan Shaqiri’s shot hit his back.
Last night in Geneva, Northern Ireland were on the wrong end of another dubious call when referee Slavko Vincic showed Jamal Lewis a second yellow card for time-wasting after just 37 minutes.
The visitors’ 10 men then conceded on the stroke of half-time when Steven Zuber broke the deadlock for the Euro 2020 quarter-finalists.
Although Northern Ireland still have a mathematical chance of qualifying, in reality their hopes are over and they are six points behind the secondplaced Swiss with just three games remaining.
Boss Ian Baraclough was justifiably incensed by Vincic’s decision and he understood how devastating a blow it was for his side.
His contract is up next month when
the campaign ends, but he has already made enough progress to warrant a deal for the Euro 2024 qualifiers.
Baraclough has successfully blooded a new generation of players like Dan Ballard, Shayne Lavery and Conor Bradley as the old guard of Steven Davis and Co come to an end.
Northern Ireland thought they had suffered a nightmare start inside the first four minutes when Denis Zakaria fired home a superb effort from 20 yards out with the outside of his right foot.
But VAR came to their rescue when it was ruled that
Kevin Mbabu was fractionally offside in the build-up.
The Irish should then have taken the lead when Conor Washington was presented with a great chance, but he shot straight at Yann Sommer.
The open start continued and Bailey Peacock-farrell saved from Shaqiri at his near post.
Switzerland pinned Northern Ireland back and the visitors, who were without seven injured players, including Jonny Evans, had plenty of defending to do.
Their commitment was total and Ciaron Brown made a terrific block to divert Shaqiri’s goalbound drive.
The mountain Northern Ireland had to climb became as tall as any peak in the Swiss Alps when Lewis received his second caution.
Lewis had already been booked for stupidly holding Breel Embolo’s shirt and his second card was harsh.
Vincic dismissed him for taking 23 seconds to take a throw-in after the
Slovenian official had warned skipper Paddy Mcnair to stop time-wasting.
It was proper backs-to-the-wall stuff for Northern Ireland and they performed manfully until they lost concentration and Switzerland capitalised to score in the third minute of first-half stoppage time.
Craig Cathcart and Jordan Thompson got in a tangle to allow Embolo to race forward and when Ballard tackled him, the ball broke for Zuber to slot home.
Switzerland pushed for a second goal as Northern Ireland’s 10 men tired and Peacock-farrell made a smart save to deny Embolo before Mbabu hit a drive just wide.
Peacock-farrell then made a brilliant instinctive stop to keep out Fabian Schar’s pointblank effort.
The Swiss finally scored the second goal they had been threatening when Christian Fassnacht fired home in the first minute of stoppage time.
And in the capital of the Swiss clockmaking industry, time is almost up for Northern Ireland.