Belfast: Switzerland took a giant step towards qualifying for Russia 2018 last night but needed a controversial penalty to earn a 1-0 win against Northern Ireland in the first leg of their World Cup play-off.
Vladimir Petkovic’s team dominated the match at Windsor Park in Belfast but squandered a succession of chances as Michael O’Neill’s team held them at bay.
The key moment came with just over half an hour to go, when Xherdan Shaqiri’s volley was blocked by Corry Evans in the box and the referee pointed to the spot, even though he appeared to have been hit on the shoulder as he took evasive action.
Ricardo Rodriguez made no mistake from the penalty spot, sending Michael McGovern the wrong way as the visitors finally made their superiority count to put them in the driving seat in the two-legged tie.
Northern Ireland started brightly at Windsor Park and Switzerland’s Fabian Schaer was lucky to escape with just a yellow card after he flew into a reckless tackle on Stuart Dallas.
But the visitors quickly found their rhythm and established a stranglehold on the game, stretching the home side on both flanks and creating several promising openings as they peppered the home side’s penalty area.
In Zagreb, Croatia cruised to a 4-1 victory over Greece in their World Cup play-off first leg.
Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric opened the scoring in Zagreb from the penalty spot in the 13th minute, with Nikola Kalinic flicking in a second just six minutes later.
Centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos gave the visitors hope on the half-hour mark, but Inter Milan winger Ivan Perisic powered in a close-range header before the interval and Andrej Kramaric wrapped up a comfortable win.