Euro 24: Their tradition: celebrating Switzerland’s victory against France

The Swiss team could resolve a serious dilemma on Saturday evening. “We don’t know which day we should celebrate our birthday: the 28th or the 29th,” reveals Jérôme. Nothing to do with any leap year problem. It’s about Switzerland’s victory over France at Euro 2020+1, which he and his group of friends have decided to honor every year. “In Switzerland, Yann Sommer diverted Kylian Mbappé’s penalty before midnight. So June 28. But on site in Bucharest, it was an hour later, it was already the 29th.” So far, the first day of both has been held back. Knowing that if the national team beats Italy this Saturday, they will no longer have to wonder: the celebrations could extend over 48 hours.

“It’s not that simple,” Michaël interrupts. “The only thing that can equal this victory against France is a title. We don’t realize how much came together that night to create a unique moment.” That’s good. To try to relive the thrill of this timeless moment shared by the entire country, his group has established a tradition: replaying the match.

An appointment is made on Friday in a pizzeria in Berlin to blow out the three candles on the cake. There are six of them to honor him. Including Martial, quite proud of his joke when closing the food menu. “I have what we need when it comes to red. They offer Italian: Muri. It will get our weekend off to a good start.” Murat Yakin will appreciate the tribute. “Martial comes from German Switzerland, but he prefers to hang out with us. We suppose it’s because the Romands party better,” smiles Jérôme.

His tablet is still buried in his bag. The rebroadcast will serve as dessert. Bonded by their common affection for the Swiss team, the small group takes pleasure in going over their best anecdotes. The discussion stops on these unfortunate Swiss fans injured by thrown cups earlier in the tournament. “In Brasilia in 2014, I finished the match with an open arcade. A beer hit me right in the eye,” Stéphane painfully recalls.

Difficult memory section, more recent this time: last November’s trip to Felcsut, in Hungary, to face Israel. “We have to put the context into perspective: there were 27 Swiss supporters who made the trip. 27. That’s a change from the 10,000 from Cologne, says Michaël. Seeing this, we said to ourselves: Great, we’ll leave there with qualification for the Euro and each of us will manage to steal a jersey from a player.. Result: we didn’t win, we didn’t qualify, and the players went back to the locker room without coming to greet us. It was very average of them.”

Jérôme takes out his tablet. The time is approaching. But not so fast. “Do you remember the fear we felt with those damn PCR tests?” Michaël says. “Imagine if one of us had missed Switzerland-France because of a positive result. What I mean is that we were relieved just to be able to be in the stadium. It was already a first victory.” The second is coming.

From one June 28 to the next, they prefer to avoid falling back on one or the other scene of the match. Just to have the impression of fully rediscovering this piece of history once a year. “But some Euro advertising spots in Germany spoiled things a bit for us,” they grumble. Not enough to refresh their memory too precisely, obviously. “I’m tense!”, Michaël surprises himself, as the kick-off is about to take place. “We are going to experience this match together,” says the voice of David Lemos through the screen. Let’s go.

“What do you mean, David Lemos? We can’t put the SRF version, with Sascha Ruefer, Martial gets annoyed. He was really excellent on the comments.” On both sides of the Sarine, the words placed on this page of history have remained. “I don’t know about you, but I definitely sense a victory for the penos,” prophesies Michaël. His friends are laughing.

The tight schedule of the troop and the capricious network of a terrace shared with a group of Norwegians not sure to understand the delirium of their neighbors push the team to prefer the shortened version of the match. A compromise is found: the summary of the match in French, then the penalty shootout in full in German. Martial appreciates it.

A strange silence settles in. As if the outcome of the meeting was put back into play. The illusion works. Haris Seferovic’s opening goal is celebrated timidly, in anticipation of the pain that will follow. A waiter passes by, tries to join the party. He resigns himself to the concentration of the table.

The mockery of the French supporters encountered in the streets of Bucharest before the duel rose to the surface. “They were harassing us with: Is it really worth coming to Romania to take a 4-0?” When Paul Pogba scored 3-1, the group would almost wonder if the French fans had not been right.

“I did not believe it anymore. People around me were trying to shake me, to tell me there was still time. For me, it was dead,” sighs Martial. “Even the 3-2, I had the impression that it was simply going to fuel our regrets,” continues Michaël. However, the two men are not the pessimistic type. It is even said that their trip to Dortmund, where Switzerland could play their quarter-final if they beat Italy, is already booked. With free cancellation option, anyway.

The cameras of Suisse-France 2021 scan the few Swiss faces in the stands, distorted by emotions. “There must have been between 200 or 300. But gradually, the whole stadium rallied to our cause,” rejoices Jérôme. Mario Gavranovic finally scores 3-3. Stomachs remain in knots. Michaël tries to reduce the general pressure. “We won this extension with Christian Fassnacht who plays on the wing. Do we realize that?”

The extra time passes. The penalty takers too. The feat to come still seems as supernatural. “When you think about it, we don’t have a single shooter on the team with whom we say in advance: Ok, that will do it.. 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4… And we make Mehmedi shoot. No but… Mehmedi!”, the gang still hallucinates. He scores. Yann Sommer diverts Kylian Mbappé’s sending. Stops while awaiting validation from the referee in a suspended moment that seems to last hours. “At the stadium, I hadn’t even paid attention to that,” remarks Michaël. “It’s true that the moment we realized that the ball wasn’t going in, we lost all our bearings,” adds Jérôme.

Switzerland beat France. Once in reality. In the hearts of Swiss fans, it is every time that a pile of pixels allows Yann Sommer to dive back to his right at the fateful moment. “The first time I watched the match summary, it was at 5 o’clock that night in my hotel room. Crying,” says Stéphane, moved. He had just shed a few tears, and the 600 francs that would be used to fly to Russia for the quarter-final against Spain.

In front of the terrace of the Berlin pizzeria, two street musicians abandon the classics of their repertoire for a moment. The notes of “Happy Birthday” ring out. The table looks at each other, suspicious. “Who told them to play that?” Person. This is the magic of June 28.