Football: The big story of the year 2024 from the Swiss team

On November 22, 2023, on this wobbly table in a restaurant at Bucharest airport, the theories were rife. “And you, who would you see as coach?” We mention Urs Fischer, Raphaël Wicky, Lucien Favre and Alain Geiger.

It must be said that, the day before, the followers of the Swiss team had sensed this: after yet another poor performance in the qualifiers for the Euro (1-0 defeat in Romania), Pierluigi Tami had suggested that the Murat Yakin’s fate could be sealed in the days to come, despite the qualification obtained.

A year later, Murat Yakin is still there. The ASF kept it, and extended it after a very successful Euro. So this time, there is little doubt that he will have a Christmas. Despite the seven games without a win and relegation to League B of the Nations League. Despite the perplexity that once again surrounds the national team.

2024 concluded in Tenerife on Monday, with a 3-2 defeat to Spain and a lot of mixed feelings. Because this last year is not easy to read and analyze. Story in five acts.

It all started in the sun. As if to signify a new beginning, under better auspices. End of March in La Manga, south of Murcia. It’s good. There are smiles. There is that of Giorgio Contini, in particular.

Because the winter has not been easy for the ASF. Murat Yakin was retained, but Vincent Cavin, his former deputy, chose to leave. “Common agreement,” it was said. We can estimate that the collaboration was no longer very fruitful, and that another second voice was needed to speak to the players.

It was therefore Contini, close to Yakin. The first returns? They are very positive. The players notice that, in training, Contini behaves like a number one. Very active, very directive, very present. It’s appreciated. And internally, the group was convinced of this new beginning.

The other major change is the idea of ​​play. Return to a three-defender system, reminiscent of that of the Vladimir Petkovic era. He suits Granit Xhaka and Manuel Akanji very well. It allows you to be ambitious, with and without the ball. Contini practiced it a lot in club, in fact. During the two friendly matches (0-0 in Denmark, then 1-0 victory in Ireland), we see the beginnings, nothing more. But the climate is more serene.

No match in spring. No certainties. Except for seeing the players perform in their clubs. Manuel Akanji is English champion with Manchester City, Granit Xhaka flies through the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen, Yann Sommer is invincible with Inter. These three never lose, or almost never.

There is also Gregor Kobel who made the Champions League final, Dan Ndoye, Remo Freuler and Michel Aebischer who are doing well in Serie A with Bologna, Fabian Schär who is essential with Newcastle. In short, the executives are top notch. Only doubts: Breel Embolo and Denis Zakaria, who are returning from injury and who will only be available during the Euro.

No matter, Murat Yakin calls them anyway. Even if the start of the internship sees a lot of new faces mixing in to make up the numbers. The list of thirty-eight is reduced little by little. Filip Ugrinic and Kevin Mbabu are the last to jump, just before the final friendly match against Austria. Ardon Jashari, Fabian Rieder and Leonidas Stergiou are preferred. Young people, especially. The idea is not to jeopardize group cohesion.

After beating Estonia 4-0, Switzerland plays a final preparation match against Austria. Final score: 1-1. Nothing very reassuring. Dan Ndoye misses his match as an outside left, and Steven Zuber, tipped to start a week later against Hungary, is injured. In front, Zeki Amdouni does not shine.

Murat Yakin is faced with choices. And the planets align. On Tuesday, five days before entering the fray, he summoned Michel Aebischer. “You are going to play outside left, but in a hybrid position: with the ball, you can go freely in the middle,” he told him in substance. Dan Ndoye is replaced as a right winger, like at the club. And Amdouni? Relegated to the bench, even with a reduced Embolo. Make way for Kwadwo Duah, the surprise guest on the list.

At halftime, Switzerland leads 2-0. Goals from Duah and Aebischer. Embolo scored the third at the end of the match, for a 3-1 success. Yakin seems touched by grace. Especially since Switzerland has never played a match so well since he took office.

In Germany, something is happening. Murat Yakin is “in the zone.” He starts Xherdan Shaqiri against Scotland, he scores a goal from elsewhere (1-1). Fabian Rieder was chosen against Germany, he was involved in the Swiss goal (1-1) and had a full match.

Switzerland is at a level that no one imagined a few weeks earlier. How to explain it? His executives Xhaka and Akanji, who Yakin visited before the Euro, are exceptional. This contributes a lot. The flexible tactical approach chosen before Hungary is the identity of this team, all fluidity in its play. Yakin takes care of his ego, savors the moment.

Against a very weak Italy, Switzerland arrives with full confidence to play its round of 16 in Berlin. Everyone believes in it, first and foremost the players. There is no shortage of that. There, it is in particular Ruben Vargas who highlights himself. But it is the entire Swiss performance that is to be saluted. The national team is in the quarter-finals of the Euro for the second time in a row. The country vibrates.

There is a euphoria. England, in the quarter-final, is less scary than it should be. What we don’t really know is that Granit Xhaka is really injured. If he doesn’t train, it’s because the adductor injury sustained against Italy is deep. It’s a tear. “I couldn’t make long passes or shots, but it was important for me to help the team,” he said after the match.

The fact remains that on the ground, this cannot be seen. The Swiss team is equal in Düsseldorf. She even dominates very long sequences. And she opened the scoring, through Breel Embolo, creating an excitement rarely felt in a stadium with the national team.

The rest is unfortunately known: Saka equalized for England, the match ended on penalties, where Manuel Akanji missed his. End of story. Sadness.

Then comes the pride, all the same. Very quickly, the ASF took stock. The day after the elimination, president Dominique Blanc, national team director Pierluigi Tami and Yakin appeared before the press in Stuttgart, before heading off to be honored in Zurich.

No negative speech. Losing on penalties is basically bad luck. And then, above all, we do not discuss the Murat Yakin case, even though it is at the end of the contract. He is the priority of the ASF and the Swiss team is his, they proclaim in unison. No questioning. The journey to the Euro is enough to erase everything that happened before. There is no better choice for the future.

It is only a matter of days before the ASF formalizes what there was little doubt: Yakin and Contini are extended. Contract until 2026. Option of two additional years available. This looks like carte blanche.

Except that a few minutes before the press conference in which Yakin must congratulate himself on this new contract, Xherdan Shaqiri unilaterally announces his withdrawal from the Swiss team. We could assume so, but he didn’t warn Yakin. His very little playing time at the Euro must have confirmed him in this choice. Prelude to an autumn less smooth than expected?

Because Shaqiri is not the only one to slam the door. Fabian Schär does the same, after a very good Euro. This may come as a surprise. Implicitly, we understand that it is also a way of “returning” to Yakin all the distrust he has shown him since his arrival. To the point, sometimes, of thinking about not selecting it. He didn’t make him a starter until 2024.

Yann Sommer is also in gear. There, the mechanism changes. The fact is leaked that Yakin wants to make Gregor Kobel his new number one goalkeeper. Faced with a fait accompli, Sommer in turn throws in the towel.

A way to activate the great renewal desired by the ASF. Tami sets two goals for Yakin for the fall: to stay in League A of the Nations League and to refresh the contingent. Except that doing both at the same time seems more complex than expected.

Switzerland has never ridden its wave. Very quickly, from the first match in Denmark, finished at nine (expulsions of Elvedi and Xhaka) and lost 2-0, the continuity is only window dressing. The system is similar, Aebischer still plays on the left, but the game is no longer as fluid.

And then, another new project arises, the defense: Elvedi does not do the job. Akanji is only a shadow of himself and withdraws in November. Zakaria, whom Yakin wants to try for this place, does the same in October and November. Overall, the frameworks are failing. Far too far from their level at the Euro. The impact is immense.

Thus, Switzerland lost its first three matches (against Spain and in Serbia), and Yakin activated the renewal by a change of system against Denmark in Saint-Gall (2-2). Return to a four-man defense. But the control is relative, even if Yakin points out (rightly, but far too much) the refereeing errors. The last two matches, 1-1 against Serbia and 3-2 defeat in Spain, say nothing more. They simply consolidate Switzerland’s last place.

The group is refreshed because it must be done to compensate for absences. Joël Monteiro and Aurèle Amenda will perhaps exist in 2025, for example. But how many really earned their place this fall?

There are too many questions surrounding this Swiss team at the twilight of 2024. Almost more than a year ago. Because the guarantees have crumbled.

The major question? Who is the real Swiss team? That of summer 2024 or that of autumn 2023 and 2024? 2025, perhaps, will finally provide solid answers.