Nation League
Offensively a horror, defensively sloppy: the Swiss national team also loses in Serbia
The Swiss national soccer team also loses its third game in the Nations League. Coach Murat Yakin’s team lost 2-0 to Serbia after a poor performance away in Leskovac.
Served Captain: Granit Xhaka and Switzerland are facing uncomfortable days.
Urs Flueeler / EPA
A year ago a new stadium was opened in Leskovac. The 8,000-person capacity arena is officially called “Dubocica,” but it quickly became popularly known as the “Theater of Dreams.” Why? There is no really conclusive answer to this. Evil tongues claim: Because, like in the original “Theater of Dreams”, the home of the major English club Manchester United, big football is currently only dreamed of, not practiced.
Serbia starts the Nations League home game against Switzerland without a competitive win this year. The national team, for its part, has had a great summer, but like the weather, the mood around the team has cooled down since then. The two initial defeats in the Nations League against Denmark and Spain pushed Switzerland to the bottom of the table. And so it is already a small crisis peak in southern Serbia, for both teams survival in League A is at stake for the time being.
This mixed situation is then quickly reflected on the pitch. Offensively, neither the home team nor the optically superior Swiss achieved anything worth mentioning for a long time. From a Swiss perspective, the well-known problem of struggling against defensive teams becomes apparent. This is exacerbated by the fact that the creative duo Dan Ndoye and Zeki Amdouni are never included in the game. In the 27th minute the guests got their first and only chance. But striker Breel Embolo, in a good finishing position after interaction between Silvan Widmer and Amdouni, puts the ball next to the goal.
Switzerland offensively harmless
It is already clear that the Swiss will only have a few useful chances to score this evening. And consequently also that a lack of efficiency could take revenge. That’s exactly what happens after the home team takes a final free kick before half-time. Serbian striker Mitrovic missed the ball, as did the Swiss Embolo – and then Nico Elvedi made an unfortunate deflection. 0:1. Now things are getting really tricky for the Swiss national team.
The Serbs with captain Alexandar Mitrovic (left) celebrate the first goal.
Darko Vojinovic / AP
Coach Murat Yakin reacts during the break and brings in Fabian Rieder, who was expected by many in the starting line-up, for Silvan Widmer. And lo and behold: the ball is soon in the Serbian goal – but Embolo scores from a clearly offside position. The Swiss national team is far from deserving of the lack of luck in this situation that evening. Offensively it remains a horror.
And now hair-raising errors creep in even in reverse gear. Mitrovic took advantage of the first one, a dissolute duel from Manuel Akanji, to make it 2-0. The Swiss are now swimming and, after another misfire in the build-up, almost receive the next blow. On the sidelines, Yakin can hardly look anymore and keeps turning away to the substitutes’ bench, shaking his head. And so almost misses the scene that supposedly brings hope back to the Swiss team. Ndoye is pushed into the penalty area while sprinting and receives the penalty whistle.
Xhaka without much influence
But what does Embolo do? In keeping with his messed-up performance, he misses the Serbs’ direct pass to score the goal. Now Granit Xhaka is also throwing his hands away. An evening to forget for the captain too. This is less due to the insults against his Kosovar roots that the Serbian audience feels compelled to make at the beginning of the game. Xhaka has prepared for such provocations and he manages to stay calm. His athletic appearance is just as inconspicuous.
As usual, every attack comes from the captain, but his teammates either don’t respond to Xhaka’s ideas or make unusual mistakes. Result: The Swiss also lose the third game in the Nations League and can slowly but surely get rid of the group place 2 that was initially announced as their goal.
A good three months later there is nothing left of the splendor of the European Championships in the Serbian province. If there is a defeat against Denmark on Tuesday and Serbia wins in Spain, they will be relegated to League B for the first time. On the other hand: With the maximum points from the remaining three games, the quarterfinals are still possible. But nobody in the Swiss camp dreams of that after the 2-0 defeat in the “Theater of Dreams” in Leskovac.
