The sporting director of the Swiss national team, Pierluigi Tammy, announced on Wednesday that the sick players had contracted a “virus that spread in the hotel”, but it was not Corona, the day after the serious 1-6 defeat against Portugal in the final price of the World Cup in Qatar.
Tammy said at the press conference: It wasn’t a Covid issue. There was a virus in the hotel. Not all, but some players have it.
Since the beginning of the World Cup, many players of the “Natti” team have fallen ill and been victims of “colds”.
Switzerland coach Murat Yakin hinted at various illnesses linked to Sylvain Widmer, “too ill” to play, victim of “fever” and “cold symptoms”, Fabian Schar, replaced at half-time because he “lacked the strength during the match”, and Nico Elvedi, who “not even he was 100% ready”.
And Yakin outlined the reasons for the cruel loss: we lacked vitality. Unfortunately, we had a lot of sick players and the opponent was stronger and fresher. We paid for the energy we put into the first three games.
He added: We were aware of this issue (the virus in the hotel) and made recommendations to the team. It wasn’t a problem at first. But of course we have to analyze whether we can do better things in the future.
