Leeds United star Noah Okafor surely livid after strange Switzerland call

Leeds United attacker Noah Okafor will be feeling frustrated after his early World Cup experience.

After an excellent season at Elland Road, Okafor joined up with the Swiss national team as they headed Stateside for the tournament.

In their opening match against Qatar on Saturday evening, the Schweizer Nati would play out a 1-1 draw.

The Swiss proved toothless in San Francisco, with multiple players missing huge chances to extend their 1-0 lead from the first half.

Typically, Qatar would go on to equalise in the dying moments, punishing Switzerland for their errors in the final third.

Despite this, Okafor would not play a single minute on the pitch, likely leaving him questioning his worth under boss Murat Yakin.

Noah Okafor will wonder what else he can do as Switzerland stumble

Taking the lead through a Breel Embolo penalty in the 17th minute, the Swiss looked as if they would be on for a comfortable win.

And with no disrespect to Julen Lopetegui's Qatar side, this is exactly how the match should have panned out.

With 68 per cent of the ball and 527 accurate passes, the Swiss registered 26 shots - forging an expected goals tally of 3.20 compared to the 0.60 of their opponents.

The concerning facts: Switzerland hit the target just seven times across the 90, while they missed a whopping six big chances, with left winger Ruben Vargas missing two of these himself.

Naturally, they would be punished, as Hamburg defender Miro Muheim headed into his own net in the 94th minute.

Even with this taken into account, Leeds attacker Okafor did not see a minute of action, despite scoring eight Premier League goals from an xG of 5.26 this term.

Watching his teammates stumble in the final third, the Whites man will have sat on the bench wondering what more he could have done.

Has previous Okafor situation impacted Switzerland fortunes?

Due to an incident stretching back to Euro 2024, Okafor has not featured for the Nati since then.

Publicly criticising the national team setup's lack of communication, he would go directly to director Pierluigi Tami to question his lack of playing time at the tournament.

As a result, he would not meet up with his compatriots again until the recent March break, when he would apologise to his teammates.

Recovering from injury issues at the time, he would not feature, but now that he is back fully fit, he may be questioning whether the incident of two years ago is impacting his chances under Yakin moving forward.

Switzerland tried everything against Qatar, except using one of their in-form players - a man described as the "perfect fit" by Leeds boss Daniel Farke.

However, it seems that this statement is not echoed in the international camp.