“There were too many Welsches on the ground for it to work…” The amused remark from one of the most influential German-speaking journalists did not come from the sky.
The Swiss team is now on French time. Even if he still does not speak publicly in French, Murat Yakin can no longer hide his weakness for players from the other side of the Sarine when he watches it from Fribourg. Friday evening, he finished the meeting with six of them, Aurèle Amenda, Kevin Mbabu, Andi Zeqiri, Zeki Amdouni, Joêl Monteiro and Dereck Kutesa. And to hear his post-match comments, the coach does not regret this sudden preference given to the Romands. “The entries of Zeqiri, Monteiro and Kutesa were very positive,” he emphasizes.
The Vaudois, the Valaisan and the Genevois were introduced after the hour mark with the mission of breathing new impetus into a team ready to take all risks. After Amdouni’s opening score, we were closer to 2-0, a score which could have put the Swiss team back in the race for second place in the group, than to this fatal 1-1.
As on June 22, 1994
We perhaps have to go back to the days of Roy Hodgson to find a majority of French-speaking players in the eleven. On June 22, 1994 in Detroit during the 4-1 success against Romania in the World Cup in a match which remained for a very long time as the most successful in its history, Switzerland had six players from French-speaking Switzerland at the kick-off: Marco Pascolo , Marc Hottiger, Alain Geiger, Yvan Quentin, Christophe Ohrel and Stéphane Chapuisat.
Of course, we don’t know if Murat Yakin will give this same Latin touch to his team in the future. But what we know is that he will rely more and more on Edimilson Fernandes, replaced before the equalizer, and on Zeki Amdouni, scorer against Spain in Geneva, Denmark in St. Gall and Serbia in Zurich. The coach is now an absolute fan of both players. “Edimilson does not play in his natural position. But he plays this right-back role with real brilliance, assures Murat Yakin. As for Zeki, he can hold all four offensive positions in a 4-2-3-1. He plays admirably between the lines And, above all, he does not suffer in selection from his lack of playing time at club.
Noah Okafor: le grand perdant
Unlike Noah Okafor who, according to Murat Yakin, “wanted to do too well”. “Only, Noah doesn’t keep up the pace. He plays so little with Milan,” adds Murat Yakin to practically send the Basel player back to the ropes. With Breel Embolo once again in despair, the Milan player was the big loser of the evening. He did not know how to seize this “second” chance that Murat Yakin offered him. How is it that he is only the shadow of the player who made his whole class talk one evening in November 2021 in Rome against Italy? At 24, he is already considered a has-been. The time has come for him to truly step aside in front of Ruben Vargas and Derek Kutesa.
This article was automatically published. Source: ats
