Three days after a sad setback in Serbia, Switzerland must redeem itself in St. Gallen against Denmark. Any other result than a success will suggest that the Euro was only an enchanted parenthesis.
Beaten 2-0 in Copenhagen on September 5 for their first match of this Nations League campaign which is not far from disastrous, Switzerland intends to pay back their evening opponents. Granit This attitude was perceived as a lack of fair play by the Swiss and, above all, led their captain to do the irreparable thing to his counterpart Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg. ‘The Danes were quite simply the smartest,’ quips Murat Yakin.
Copenhagen the beginning of the end?
This match in Copenhagen sounds a bit, if we want to paint the devil on the wall, like the beginning of the end for the Swiss. Without Granit Xhaka suspended, they were much too ‘soft’ three days later against Spain (1-4). Before falling very low last Saturday in Leskovac against Serbia (0-2).
A fourth defeat in a row, practically synonymous with direct relegation to League B, will also be a stain on Murat Yakin’s record. Losing four matches in a row never happened to his two predecessors. The last to have experienced this misfortune was Köbi Kuhn. Between October 2007 and March 2008 in a very laborious preparation campaign for Euro 2008 at home, Switzerland successively lost 1-0 to the United States, 1-0 to Nigeria, 2-1 to the England and 4-0 in front of Germany. The evening when we will officially say goodbye to Yann Sommer, Fabian Schär and Xherdan Shaqiri is not the right evening to write such a dark page.
‘We must not make excuses’
Murat Yakin knows of course that the room for error no longer exists. ‘We have had individual discussions which have been fruitful since Saturday,’ he said. We of course analyzed the meeting. The lessons that we can learn are simple: we concede too many ‘avoidable’ goals and we lack efficiency in the last gesture. We must not make excuses. Only play Tuesday with more intensity. The stadium will be full with a crowd that will grow. It’s up to us to take advantage of it.’
The coach has obviously not revealed his intentions regarding the choices he will make. However, he will have to replace the suspended Silvan Widmer on the right flank of the defense. His absence and the too timid performances of Michel Aebischer on the other flank could encourage him to modify his system to return to a four-man defense. ‘It’s a possibility,’ he said. I will make my decision tomorrow. There may be surprises.’ It’s time for the Basel resident to find his magic wand.
/ATS