Sweden’s hopes of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup were damaged further after a 2-0 home loss to Switzerland.

The defeat means Sweden are at the bottom of Group B on one point from three games, while Switzerland edged closer to automatic qualification on nine points and Kosovo sit in second with four.

Switzerland were more dominant in the first half but had to wait until the 65th minute to open the scoring, with Granit Xhaka firing in from the penalty spot after Djibril Sow was fouled by Alexander Bernhardsson.

Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres both played the full 90 minutes at Strawberry Arena, but neither of the big-money strikers could hit the target in a disappointing display in which Sweden generated 0.89 expected goals (xG).

Nineteen-year-old Johan Manzambi then secured all three points for the visitors in the fourth minute of additional time when his strike was deflected past Viktor Johansson at the near post.

Meanwhile, in Group D, Ukraine secured a potentially crucial 5-3 win in an eight-goal thriller against Iceland in the race for second place.

With France well on their way to next summer’s tournament, Ukraine and Iceland are fighting for a play-off spot as Azerbaijan struggle to make an impact.

Ukraine took a 3-1 lead into the break, with Ruslan Malinovskyi twice and Oleksii Hutsuliak also on target for the visitors, while Mikael Ellertsson got on the scoresheet for Iceland.

Albert Gudmundsson, though, bagged a brace of his own to level the score with 15 minutes to go.

However, Ivan Kaliuzhnyi and Oleh Ocheretko struck for Ukraine in the closing moments to move them up to second place.

Elsewhere, Northern Ireland beat Slovakia 2-0 as the top three teams in Group A all sit on six points.

An own goal from Patrik Hrosovsky and a second-half strike from Trai Hume got the job done for Northern Ireland, who move up into second but remain behind Germany on goal difference.

Data Debrief: Switzerland’s impenetrable defence

Switzerland have scored nine times in their three qualifying matches and have not conceded a single goal. In fact, they have kept a clean sheet in each of their last four games in World Cup qualifiers.

Sweden, meanwhile, failed to attempt a shot on target for the first time in a World Cup qualifier since facing Spain in November 2021.

On the other hand, Northern Ireland have won their last five competitive home games by an aggregate score of 12-0, winning five such games in a row without conceding a single goal for the first time ever.