After five matches without the slightest success, the Swiss team returned to victory, winning by the narrowest margin (1-0) in Dublin against Ireland; Shaqiri scored the only goal of the match which the Helvetians finished with 5 Genevans on the field.
Replacing Saturday in Copenhagen during the 0-0 against Denmark, Xherdan Shaqiri was the big winner of the evening. The Basel player scored the only goal of the match in the 23rd minute with an unstoppable strike. With his 30th goal for the national team, he reminded Murat Yakin that, despite his 32 years, his extra pounds and his lack of pace, he remained quite simply irreplaceable.
In this new system which now favors the art of defending well, depriving yourself of the only creative player in the selection would undoubtedly be absurd. As in Copenhagen, this Swiss selection version 2024 looked like a team which no longer really seeks to impose its football, but which wants to be very inconvenient to face. The question is whether this will allow us to go far at the Euro.
Seven changes: Murat Yakin made the expected large turnover three days after the 0-0 in Copenhagen. Only Fabian Schär, Granit Xhaka, Silvan Widmer and Dan Ndoye – already essential? – were included among those who appeared in the starting XI in Denmark.
Sierra and Kutesa aligned
With the neophyte Vincent Sierro at the helm, alongside of course Granit Xhaka, the Swiss quickly took control of this meeting against the Irish who still only have their legendary “fighting spirit” to offer. For the rest, the game offered remains very poor.
Honesty requires us to specify that that of the Swiss Team was not of great richness like the failings of Eray Cömert, whose recent performances in the jersey of FC Nantes did not really justify his tenure. . Like Saturday, Ndoye seemed to be the only one capable of carrying the danger with a first tumble in the 10th minute.
The Helvetii were, however, able to materialize their superiority thanks to Shaqiri. At the origin of this free kick with his full-axis breakthrough, Zeki Amdouni can claim a share of this goal which put an end to a long drought of… 246 minutes for the Swiss team.
In the 40th minute, the visitors were close to doubling the lead. Following an error from the opponent’s restart, Xhaka tried his luck from afar to find Gavin Bazunu’s left post. This was to be the last action of the captain, replaced at the break by Remo Freuler.
Without its captain, the Swiss team too quickly abandoned the initiative of the game for the overall performance delivered in Dublin to be remembered. Brilliant at the start of the match, Sierra was unable to continue in the same vein. But it is undeniable that the Valaisan’s contribution could prove valuable in three months in Germany.
The second neophyte thrown into the mix in Dublin, Derek Kutesa was entitled to the last half hour. The Genevan starts from further than Sierro, but nothing says that he cannot appear in the list of 23 for the Euro if his end of the season is flamboyant as Servette FC supporters can hope. In total, there were five Geneva players on the field at the end of the match: Amdouni, holder, Mbabu, Zakaria, Kutesa – all three came on for the last half hour – and B. Omeragic, present for the last minutes.
