Thousands of empty seats were visible throughout Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on Saturday as Switzerland and Qatar played out a 1-1 draw in their Group B opener, continuing the attendance controversy that has shadowed the tournament since its opening days.
The vacant spots were particularly pronounced on the east side of the stadium, where temperatures on an unseasonably warm Bay Area afternoon reached around 31 degrees Celsius at kick-off. Switzerland’s fans, dressed in bright red, blended into the unoccupied red seats, making the empty sections even more striking on television. The pattern follows similar scenes at Estadio Akron in Guadalajara during South Korea’s match against the Czech Republic, for which FIFA blamed fans standing in concourses rather than occupying their seats. The same explanation is unlikely to satisfy critics for a second time in as many days.
On the pitch, Switzerland dominated from the first whistle but paid the price for failing to convert their superiority into a comfortable winning margin. Breel Embolo gave them the lead from the penalty spot after Mahmoud Abunada brought down Remo Freuler inside the area. Granit Xhaka controlled the tempo from deep, and Switzerland finished with 24 shots, seven on target, but could not find a second goal despite a succession of clear opportunities.
Qatar defended resolutely throughout, sitting deep and relying on the counter-attack. With the match seemingly lost, they threw men forward in stoppage time and were rewarded in the fifth minute of added time when Boualem Khoukhi rose at the back post to power a header beyond Gregor Kobel. It was Qatar’s first ever point at a World Cup finals, secured in the most dramatic fashion.
Switzerland were left to reflect on a needless dropped point. Qatar celebrated a moment of historic significance.
