Second Leeds United World Cup blow as Elland Road favourite ignored amid late drama
Another opportunity has passed for a Leeds United star to feature at the World Cup.
Leeds United forward Noah Okafor was forced to watch from the bench as his Switzerland side conceded a 94th-minute World Cup equaliser to Qatar.
Okafor had gone more than 18 months without an international appearance before making his return against Australia last weekend. The winger got 12 minutes off the bench in a pre-tournament friendly draw with Australia and had renewed hope of a World Cup opportunity.
Switzerland had the chance to pull clear at the top of Group B overnight after Canada’s 1-1 draw with Bosnia & Herzegovina the previous day. But they blew that chance with Boualem Khoukhi cancelling out Breel Embolo’s first-half penalty at the death in California.
Okafor was named on the bench by head coach Murat Yakin, who preferred Nottingham Forest’s Dan Ndoye and Ruben Vargas of Sevilla out wide. Switzerland started on the front foot and went ahead on 17 minutes, Embolo scoring from the spot after a foul on midfielder Remo Freuler by the Qatar goalkeeper.
But as Okafor watched on from the bench, those picked ahead of him missed several gilt-edged chances. Ndoye, Vargas and Embolo were all guilty of squandering opportunities with the former pair eventually taken off.
But there was no chance off the bench for Okafor, with Yakin again looking elsewhere in the form of Burnley’s Zeki Amdouni and Johan Manzambi of Freiburg. Switzerland were eventually made to rue their wastefulness when Khoukhi headed home Homam El Amin's cross deep into added-time.
The draw leaves Group B wide open, with all of Switzerland, Qatar, Canada and Bosnia level on points with all scoring one goal so far. Okafor’s side might consider themselves in the worst position, however, given they kicked things off with the easiest game on paper.
Okafor became the second Leeds player to miss out on a World Cup opportunity during the opening round of fixtures, following Brenden Aaronson. The attacking midfielder was an unused substitute earlier this weekend as the USA thumped a poor Paraguay side 4-1.
Leeds are yet to have a player feature in the tournament, although that could change tonight. Gabriel Gudmundsson’s Sweden face Tunisia while Ao Tanaka will hope for minutes when Japan face the Netherlands.