Euro 2016: Early goal paves way for Swiss win against Albania

Associated Press Saturday, 11 June 2016, 17:14 Last update: about 11 years ago

An early goal by defender Fabian Schaer earned Switzerland a 1-0 win over 10-man Albania in the second Group A match of the European Championship on Saturday.

Despite dominating most of the game, Switzerland failed to increase its lead after Albania captain Lorik Cana was sent off in the 37th minute following a second yellow card at Stade Bollaert-Delelis.

Goalkeeper Yann Sommer had to come to Switzerland's rescue in the closing minutes, with his fine save preventing an equalizer from the unmarked Shkelzen Gashi — his former teammate from Switzerland's Under-21 team.

Schaer scored the only goal when he jumped to meet a corner by Xherdan Shaqiri and headed home in the fifth minute. Albania goalkeeper Etrit Berisha had left his goal to intercept the ball but was just too late.

It was Schaer's sixth goal in 21 matches for Switzerland.

Switzerland had the best of the early exchanges and regained the initiative after Albania lost Cana. The captain handled the ball to deny Switzerland a goalscoring opportunity, 14 minutes after being punished by referee Carlos Velasco Carballo for a late tackle on Blerim Dzemaili.

Switzerland made Albania pay for a shaky start in its first match at a major tournament. The Swiss missed a series of scoring chances, with Berisha denying striker Haris Seferovic on four occasions and Dzemaili hitting the post from a free kick.

Appearing in its fourth European Championship, Switzerland earned only its second win. Switzerland also beat Portugal 2-0 in 2008 though it had already been eliminated by that stage.

Euro 2016 host France opened Group A by defeating Romania 2-1 on Friday.

The match included the brotherly duel between Albania's Taulant Xhaka and Switzerland's Granit Xhaka.

Both midfielders started in the second match of the European Championship at Stade Bollaert-Delelis in Lens.

Taulant Xhaka recovered in time from a leg injury to feature in Albania's first ever appearance at a major tournament. It's the first time in the history of the competition that siblings are playing each other in a match.