http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/07/sports/soccer/without-ronaldo-portugal-loses-to-switzerland.html 2016-09-07 03:54:41 Without Ronaldo, Portugal Loses to Switzerland For Portugal’s first competitive match since it defeated France in the Euro 2016 final, Ronaldo was left out of the squad while he recovers from a knee injury. === Portugal, the European champion, failed to overcome the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo this time, and lost, 2-0, to Switzerland in a World Cup qualifying match Tuesday. For Portugal’s first competitive match since it defeated France in the Euro 2016 final, Ronaldo was left out of the squad while he recovers from the knee injury sustained in the opening minutes in Paris. A Swiss team that mostly lacked spark in France fired into life with two goals midway through the first half in Basel, Switzerland. It also had midfielder Granit Xhaka sent off in stoppage time for a second yellow card. Breel Embolo headed the opening goal in the 23rd minute, reacting fastest to goalkeeper Rui Patricio’s parry of a Ricardo Rodriguez free kick. A fine fast break in the 30th was finished by Admir Mehmedi with a curling shot into the top-right corner of the Portugal goal. Mehmedi had taken a return pass after finding forward Haris Seferovic running deep beyond the defense. Portugal struck a post in the 82nd when Nani directed a header to bounce slowly back across goal and safely away. Earlier, Portugal’s defenders went close with shots that deflected just wide of goal, by left-back Raphael Guerreiro in the 37th and with Jose Fonte’s volley in the 75th. Portugal’s loss was its first in 15 competitive matches under Coach Fernando Santos, almost two years after he took the job. FRANCE 0, BELARUS 0 France entered the game in great shape, buoyed by its run to the Euro 2016 final, where it lost to Portugal. France dominated only to be thwarted by Andrei Gorbunov, a 33-year-old goaltender from the Greek club Atromitos making only the ninth international appearance of his career. The delight on the Belarus bench was matched only by the euphoria of its fans when the final whistle blew. The faces of the French were glum. “We came here to win,” France Coach Didier Deschamps said. “We had chances in the second half, but didn’t do what we had to do.” SWEDEN 1, NETHERLANDS 1 Life after Zlatan Ibrahimovic began well for the Swedes at home when Marcus Berg struck just before halftime, but Wesley Sneijder equalized midway through the second half. Ibrahimovic retired from internationals after Euro 2016 — where Sweden failed to progress from the group stage — and his record-breaking Sweden career ended with a whopping 62 goals. There appeared little danger when a Sweden move broke down in the 43rd. But Netherlands midfielder Kevin Strootman trod on the ball, and Berg reacted to take it off him and beat goalkeeper Jeroen Zoet with a chip from just inside the penalty area. Although the Dutch team is rebuilding with young players, the veteran Sneijder rescued matters with a shot into the bottom right corner. BELGIUM 3, CYPRUS 0 Striker Romelu Lukaku scored a goal in each half as the talent-packed team looked determined to shake off its underachiever tag. GREECE 4, GIBRALTAR 1 Playing the “home” game in Faro, Portugal, while its own stadium is being built, Gibraltar leveled Greece’s 10th-minute opener with a curling shot by Liam Walker in the 26th. Greece then added three more goals between the 44th minute and the halftime whistle. BULGARIA 4, LUXEMBOURG 3 BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA 5, ESTONIA 0 Veteran defender Emir Spahic scored with an early close-range header, and the captain Edin Dzeko converted from the penalty spot after he was fouled by the Estonia captain Ragnar Klavan. Bosnia added late goals from Haris Medunjanin, Vedad Ibisevic and Spahic again.