Switzerland thrash Iceland 6-0 in UEFA Nations League debut

IANS Sunday, 09 September 2018 05:00:15 PM

St. Gallen (Switzerland) : Switzerland has clobbered visiting Iceland 6-0 here in the teams' UEFA Nations League opener.

Winger Steven Zuber opened the scoring for the hosts just 13 minutes into the game at Kybunpark, while midfielder Denis Zakaria netted the second goal 10 minutes later on Saturday, reports Efe news.

After the intermission, Liverpool forward Xherdan Shaqiri scored the third goal for the Red Crosses in the 53rd minute.

Switzerland then continued to pile on over the final half hour, with striker Haris Seferovic notching the fourth goal in the 67th minute and substitute Albian Ajeti making the score 5-0 four minutes later.

Another substitute forward, Admir Mehmedi, heaped more misery on Iceland with one final goal in the 82nd minute.

Iceland will next host Belgium, which finished third at the 2018 World Cup, in Group 2 second-round UEFA Nations League action on Tuesday in Reykjavik.

The Nordic island nation has overachieved in recent years, reaching the quarter-finals of the 2016 Euro and qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, but it was far from those lofty heights.