Dubai: A World Cup of surprises continued as Brazil were held to a shock 1-1 draw by Switzerland in their Group E opener in Rostov late on Sunday.
Philippe Coutinho’s first-half screamer was cancelled out by Steven Zuber just after the break as favourites and record five-time winners Brazil failed to get their campaign off to the start expected of them in Russia.
Coutinho curled a sublime opener in off the post from the edge of the area on 20 minutes to open Brazil’s account.
The ball had fallen to the Barcelona forward after Marcelo’s cross was headed seemingly clear by Zuber, only for the former Liverpool star, who was waiting outside the box, to then bend the ball back into the top corner with a diagonal strike across goal.
It had followed an initial early warning fired from the Brazilians after 10 minutes, when Coutinho put Neymar wide, whose cross then found its way past Fabian Schaer at the near post, before trickling to Paulinho, whose shot was tipped wide by keeper Yann Sommer.
Little else followed until just before half-time when Thiago Silva headed a corner just over the crossbar. And the while the Brazilians may have gone in at the break with a 1-0 lead it came with the nagging doubt that they perhaps should have done more.
Those concerns were justified on 50 minutes when Zuber, ironically the man whose head set up Brazil’s opener, then restored order just after the break with a thumping header into the roof of the net from Xherdan Shaqiri’s corner.
Brazil’s players bemoaned a shove Miranda as Zuber rose to meet Shaqiri’s in-swinger, but the incident wasn’t divisive enough to warrant a referee’s review on VAR.
Manuel Akanji’s challenge on Gabriel Jesus inside the box on 73 minutes was also widely appealed for penalty, but also didn’t get a second look.
Neymar could have ended it on 88 minutes but directed a powerful header from Willian’s cross right at the keeper. Likewise, Firmino also had a chance to find a winner late in stoppage time but also headed Neymar’s free-kick at the shot-stopper. A third in a late and desperate flurry by Brazil then saw Miranda blast wide after the ball was cleared into his path on the edge of the box, before the final touch of the game was another wasted free-kick from Neymar as Switzerland survived an onslaught.
