Both teams had three points from their first games.

From the same stadium where England's World Cup dream will be decided, on Wednesday, Khalil Al Ghamdi was quick to put Humberto Suazo in his notebook; not for scoring.

A double save by Diego Benaglio, in the 10th minute, kept Switzerland in the game; the second Chile attempt going out for a corner.

The referee - Khalil Al Ghamdi, of Saudi Arabia - seemed to have his whistle stuck, which in turn broke down the flow of play.

The players should have been more cautious because of how the referee set out his stall so early but Switzerland's Valon Behrami paid the price for trying to shake two players off his back; his case wasn't helped by the usual dose of over-acting by Chile's Arturo Vidal after Jean Beausejour was left in Behrami's slipstream.

Reduced to ten men, Ottmar Hitzfeld waited eleven minutes before sacrificing captain Alexander Frei, for Tranquillo Barnetta.

Half-time: 0:0

One decision that Khalil Al Ghamdi did get right was disallowing an early Chile goal for offside; and Switzerland remained on course to beat Italy's record for playing the most World Cup Finals minutes without conceding a goal.

Around the hour mark, the referee seemed to deal out cards like an apprentice croupier.

In the 67th minute, Switzerland surpassed Italy's record by not conceding a World Cup Finals goal since going out to Spain in USA 1994. Meanwhile, Switzerland's Roger Federer clawed his way back from two sets down to beat the Colombian, Alejandro Falla at Wimbledon.

Chile finally cracked the Swiss vault in the 75th minute, when Diego Benaglio rushed off his line and gave the two substitutes a chance to pull off the heist together; Esteban Paredes crossing from the right, for Mark Gonzalez to head down and past Stephan Lichtsteiner trying to cover the line.

Switzerland tried valiantly to get back on level terms but the referee's watch was ticking against them. It didn't help that Eren Derdiyok could hardly believe he was given a golden opportunity to score and fluffed his lines in the 90th minute.

The final act in the game was when Khalil Al Ghamdi booked Chile's Jorge Valdivia for trying to con a penalty, in the 92nd minute.

Chile 1 Switzerland 0