Ultimately, it is difficult to know whether Kevin Mbabu is simply a regular returner to the Swiss team or a full member of Murat Yakin’s selection. The fact is that he is there, in Zurich, with the rest of the internationals.
He was called up for the two Nations League matches against Serbia on Friday and in Spain on Monday. How to interpret this summons, knowing that the Genevan did not necessarily expect it?
Mbabu’s last three years with Switzerland were those of an intermittent player. There was this card game in June 2022, two days before a match in Geneva, where Jordan Lotomba is also involved. This earned both players a disciplinary suspension and cost their participation in the 2022 World Cup, where Murat Yakin preferred to leave with just one right back.
In 2023, Mbabu has never been selected. Before returning last March, then being asked for the pre-training before Euro 2024 and being rejected just before the announcement of the final list. This fall, Mbabu was not summoned to the last two Nati rallies.
But there, the 29-year-old Genevan is present. And not Silvan Widmer, pillar of the Yakin era. “To play matches at a very high level, playing for a club plays a role,” explains the coach. Widmer lost his place at Mainz, while Mbabu is performing well. It’s true: the latter went to Denmark this summer, to Midtjylland, and it’s working out well for him.
An indisputable starter with the Danish champion, with whom he is also involved in the Europa League, Mbabu has a chance to play. Given the number of absentees, he is the only training right back in the selection, even if we also have to take into account the versatile Edimilson Fernandes. Unless the return of the Genevan is just a pretext, before regaining his intermittent status.
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