Given their offensive mastery on home soil, it was no surprise to see Switzerland dominate from the outset, with two offside calls and a Dan Ndoye miss inside the opening 12 minutes providing Jordan with a warning.
But it went unheeded, and after further Swiss pressure – during which Yazeed Abulaila saved a Johan Manzambi shot towards the bottom-left corner – Jordan’s stopper fouled Remo Freuler inside the box, for a penalty that Embolo converted into the bottom-right corner, making it six successive home games to see him net before the half-time whistle.
There was no response from Jordan, and the Swiss doubled their advantage just after the half-hour mark, as Ndoye atoned for his earlier miss, when converting clinically at the end of a Michel Aebischer through ball into the box.
And Granit Xhaka would then utilise the extensive injury time generated by the earlier VAR review, when another one gave the Swiss their second penalty of the day after Saed Al Rosan fouled Embolo inside the box. The former Arsenal man fired low into the opposite corner, putting his side 3-0 up and cruising.
Although the game seemed as good as won, Jordan made their own statement of intent early in the second half, when Mousa Tamari – a known threat after nine goal contributions during the World Cup qualifiers – found Odeh Al-Fakhouri, who rifled a right-footed shot from outside the box into the bottom-left corner.
However, that would not spark a fightback, and from there, the match became a story of missed opportunities and dwindling energy.
To give credit where due, Jordan never gave up, with Yazan Al Arab’s header over the bar from close range at the end of a corner causing a fleeting moment of panic. But the Swiss would finally end all questions of the result with 12 minutes to play, when a quickfire counter attack saw Embolo play the ball into the centre of the box for Christian Fassnacht to fire into the net.
That put the top hat on a decent workout for Switzerland ahead of their sixth successive World Cup finals appearance, which will commence in a fortnight’s time against comparable Gulf-region opposition in the form of Qatar.
On today’s evidence, they’ll be clear favourites to get their tournament off to a winning start, while Jordan will need to learn quickly from this experience if they are to get anything other than a stern lesson from Austria in their own opener – even with the advantage of four extra days’ rest over the Swiss.