Switzerland start strongly against Sweden and take an early lead, but a goal conceded after 497 minutes without conceding knocks Kobel and the national team off their stride.
After four games without conceding a goal in the World Cup qualifiers, an opponent was able to beat Gregor Kobel. The Nati goalkeeper was out of work for the first half hour before the Swedes' first action from the penalty area in the 33rd minute made it 1:1. Although the Zurich player was still able to get to Benjamin Nygren's ball, he was unable to prevent it from going in.
For Switzerland and Kobel, the goal snapped a streak of 497 international minutes (that's over 8 hours) without conceding a goal. The last time they had conceded a goal was when the Mexicans made it 2:3 in a 4:2 friendly win for the Swiss in June.
At the same time, the visitors ended a drought of 346 minutes without a goal in World Cup qualifying Europe, their longest since 336 goalless minutes between September 10, 2008 and June 10, 2009.
