Switzerland has been full of confidence eleven days before its entry into the Euro. In Lucerne, they won 4-0 against Estonia to pick up a second success in 2024.
Even if Estonia, 123rd in the FIFA rankings, offered a very timid response, Murat Yakin will not be choosy about this victory acquired in a sold-out stadium – 14,473 spectators – and with the success of Steven Zuber, Zeki Amdouni, Nico Elvedi and Xherdan Shaqiri. It remains for Switzerland to demonstrate the same mastery on Saturday in St. Gallen against Austria (from 5:45 p.m. on RTS2) to leave for Germany with a conquering state of mind.
All the ingredients were there
Summery weather at last, a kick-off given by the nation’s idol Marco Odermatt and an opponent who couldn’t really do any harm: all the ingredients were there to make the Swiss team’s evening a great one. With 6 outfield players guaranteed a starting place against Hungary at kick-off, or even 7 if Fabian Schär will still be preferred to Ricardo Rodriguez in central defense, Murat Yakin recalled in his choice the importance he attached to the result even if for him “friendly matches don’t really count“.
It was therefore up to Shaqiri, Zuber and the neophyte Kwadwo Duah to deliver the goods to convince the coach of the merits of aligning them for the Euro. In a meeting where we could not demand total involvement from him in the defensive withdrawal, Shaqiri recalled that his artistic side had not evaporated in the grayness he is going through in Chicago. His penalty transformed into two stages for the 4-0 in the 67th minute gave him a 31st goal in 122 caps.
Steven Zuber gets the ball rolling
The opening score fell in the 20th on a personal effort from Zuber. At 32, the Zurich native still has that goalscoring instinct which can only do the greatest good for the Swiss team, having given Switzerland the equalizer against Brazil during the 2018 World Cup.
Like Zuber, Duah was only allowed half-time. Replaced by Amdouni, the Ludogorets player created a great opportunity with a header in the 17th minute from a cross from Granit Xhaka. The question is whether this not really successful first half will be enough in the eyes of the coach to go to the Euro. The 2-0 signed by Amdouni in the 47th on a serve from Ruben Vargas suggests that Duah is starting too far to appear on Murat Yakin’s list on Friday.
ats/bur
