Qatar won their first-ever point at a World Cup finals as a dramatic injury-time equaliser earned a 1-1 draw against a lacklustre Switzerland in the second game of Group B on Saturday.
Canada had drawn with Bosnia-Herzegovina in the group's opener on Friday night, giving favourites Switzerland the chance to take an early lead at the top of the four-team standings - an opportunity they forfeited quite spectacularly.
After Breel Embolo's first-half penalty had them on course for victory, they contrived to throw away their lead with virtually the last act of the game, punished for a casual performance lacking in cutting edge.
Late in stoppage time, Homam Ahmed hung up a hopeful ball to the back post, where Boualem Khoukhi arrived with perfect timing to appear to power a superb header home, but it was later ruled an own goal by Swiss midfielder Miro Muheim.
Switzerland, tipped to be dark horses at this tournament, amassed 26 shots, with an xG value of 3.24, but had only one goal to show for their casual efforts - scored from the spot. Spurning so many openings always made them liable to giving up a chance late on, and as it turned out, Qatar only needed one to impact the scoreline.
Gary Neville called Switzerland a level below 'class' on ITV coverage. It leaves every side in Group B level on one point after the first round of games, wide open for any nation to try to secure qualification to the knockout phase.
3: Huge chance fell for Edmilson to give Qatar the lead, sent through 1v1 with Gregor Kobel after a Manuel Akanji mistake.
10: Dan Ndoye ballooned chance over the crossbar from a teasing Ricardo Rodriguez cut back.
14: PENALTY! Spot-kick awarded to Switzerland after Remo Freuler, who, to the eye, looked offside in the build-up, was fouled by goalkeeper Mahmud Abunada.
17: GOAL! Embolo rolled calm penalty past Abunada.
35: Ndoye squandered another opening after being teed up by Embolo. The chance count continued to mount.
43: Edmilson drew a smart stop from Kobel with low snapshot.
45: Ndoye made it a hat-trick of misses as Abunada denied him again.
67: Granit Xhaka struck wide of the mark from a presentable position just outside the box.
85: Embolo wriggled free inside the area but allowed the ball to roll away before making proper contact on the strike.
90+4: GOAL! Switzerland were made to pay for a tepid second half as Muheim headed in an own goal
Switzerland were awarded a spot-kick in the 14th minute, for a clear foul by Qatar's goalkeeper on Remo Freuler. To the eye, the midfielder appeared offside in the build up. However, the automated technology ruled Freuler on.
FIFA chose not to show the visual graphic on-screen to clarify the call was the correct one, something Ian Wright called "scandalous" on ITV's live coverage. Neville said the lack of transparency was "ridiculous".
The Your Site pundit added: "It's like a dictatorship in the idea that they hold this evidence and don't show it for fans. Prove to us it's offside. Where's the transparency?"
After the game, FIFA released a statement saying a "technical outage" was responsible for the images not being shown, but that "normal procedure" was followed and the lines drawn showed Freuler to be onside.
Your Site' Laura Hunter:
Much of this game unfolded like a slumber in the scorching California sunshine.
Qatar were never able to get a proper foothold, while the Swiss, a side packed with familiar Premier League names of past and present, failed to convert their overwhelming dominance. Every missed chance increased the likelihood of a late shock, and so it proved.
Murat Yakin's side haven't missed a World Cup finals since 2002, but in that time, have never progressed beyond the quarter-finals. Perhaps that is for good reason. This team are solid but far from spectacular. On evidence here, they are going to struggle to make a splash again this summer.
Switzerland captain Granit Xhaka to FIFA:
"If you don't take your chances up front, they'll come back to bite you. Maybe we also lost a bit of patience and felt we absolutely had to score the second goal.
"We have to be clever and experienced enough to see out a game at 1-0. We knew they were waiting for their moment. And they got it in the 94th minute.
"At the end of the second half we lost our rhythm and that can't happen at this level. Now we have to come back down to earth and grasp reality."
