Switzerland slips by 10-man Albania
Switzerland took advantage of an early blunder to come away from its opening match against Albania with a 1-0 victory in Lens on Saturday.
(Courtesy: UEFA Euro 2016)
The win puts Switzerland level on points with France in Group A after the host edged past Romania in a tight contest that saw Dimitri Payet's brilliant strike secure a 2-1 win.
The Swiss jumped out on top after just five minutes when Fabian Schar got his head on the end of Xherdan Shaqiri's cross to open the scoring.
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The goal could have been prevented, however, if Albania's Etrit Berisha hadn't misjudged the cross, allowing Schar to get his header off without much contest from the goalkeeper.
The situation went from bad to worse for the tournament debutants when Albania captain Lorik Cana was sent off with under 10 minutes remaining in the half after picking up his second yellow card.
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Cana's awkward attempt to clear the ball led to the Nantes player obstructing play with his hand, an act that left the match official with no choice but to produce a second yellow.
Switzerland had several chances to increase the lead - among them, Breel Embolo setting Haris Seferovic up for a close-range effort before getting denied by an improved Berisha - but ultimately failed to penetrate the stubborn Albania backline.
Albania's tournament hopes could be all but extinguished in the next match against a French team many predict will win the tournament on home soil. Meanwhile, the Swiss will try to make it two out of two in the second match against a difficult Romanian side.