Switzerland beats Israel 7-3 in first leg of women's World Cup playoff

The result

Switzerland beat Israel 7-3 in the first leg of the World Cup 2027 playoff on Friday in Mezőkövesd, Hungary, a neutral venue where kick-off was at 15:30. Le Temps called it a strange match: both teams wore black armbands for different reasons, the Swiss players for "the innocent victims of the conflicts and wars currently raging in the world" and the Israeli players for the victims of the 7 October 2023 terrorist attacks. Hardly anyone was in the stands, so the coaches' instructions and the players' conversations were the only soundtrack. Riola Xhemaili scored twice, the second time with a bicycle kick that was the clear highlight of the game. The result gives Switzerland a serious option on qualification for the second playoff round.

A sloppy first half

Switzerland led 1:0 after Géraldine Reuteler struck in the 14th minute, taking a corner short to Schertenleib and then shooting from the edge of the box. Goalkeeper Livia Peng then played a poor pass straight to Talia Sommer in the 20th minute, and Sommer beat Xhemaili and shot from the edge of the box to level the score. Sommer scored again in the 35th minute from a free kick over the wall, with Peng diving a fraction late. Iman Beney equalized to 2:2 in added time at the end of the first half, heading a Reuteler corner onto her foot and firing from distance. Blick described Peng's afternoon as a miserable one, with two goals conceded through her errors.

The players' verdicts

Captain Lia Wälti said the team had been able to dominate at times and had some luck with its goals, but that luck cannot be forced. She said that before the match the team would have accepted this result, but that conceding three goals in that way must be avoided. Wälti described her mood after the game in these words:

I cannot really describe my emotional state right now.

After the first half the mood in the dressing room was heated, and Wälti said the players had banged the table. Viola Calligaris said the team had not been at full strength and had paid dearly for it. She added that the weak first half must be a wake-up call for the remaining matches.

We were not at 100 percent and paid dearly for it.

Iman Beney, who had been frustrated by the second goal Switzerland conceded, said she had been told often that she should shoot and had taken her chance.

Today I took my chance and it paid off.

Riola Xhemaili did not want to speak of a black eye, pointing out that her team had scored seven goals, while admitting the first half had been poor. She said she had dreamed of scoring a bicycle kick and had decided to try it.

What comes next

The return leg is on Tuesday in Sion, with kick-off at 19:30. Coach Rafel Navarro, a Spaniard who has been in charge for almost a year, has seen his side's attacking philosophy only partly on display, according to Blick's assessment. Blick wrote that such a performance would not be enough in the second playoff round at the end of November, when Switzerland face Austria or Kosovo. Defender Viola Calligaris made clear that the match is about reaching a World Cup, and that the opponent also wants to reach it.