Captain Naty Granite Xhaka is disappointed when he stands in front of the SRF microphone. “Now it is very difficult to find the right words,” he says. “I got the impression that we dominated for 90 minutes and we had enough chances to win here with a score of 5:0 or even 6:0. This shouldn’t happen to us.”

“Like Defeat”

Xherdan Shaqiri, who miraculously prepared a 2-0 victory over Romania, is also disappointed. “We gave it 2-0, it was a gift,” Shaqiri told SRF. “We have to do better than that. It looks like defeat.”

After the first loss of points in the qualifying match of the European Championship, Murat Yakin, the national team coach, notes positive moments. He speaks of his team’s “usually high game” for long stretches of the game. “In fact, it was almost a perfect game. Unfortunately, we missed the opportunity to clarify the situation with the third goal.” If there were chances, Yakin would single out two or three “100 percent”.

“Not very good at defending”

Yakin described the fact that his team ended up being counterattacked twice as “not defending very smartly”. However, he didn’t want to blame the players for continuing to look for offense in the final phase. “Nothing indicated that something else would come from the Romanians.” However, in the future, the 48-year-old wants to decide how to more confidently deal with the lead in the rear.

Romanian coach Eduard Jordanescu also acknowledged Switzerland’s clear superiority. “I have to be honest, we had a fantastic opponent,” the 45-year-old said at a press conference. “Switzerland has a strong team with a bright future ahead of it.” He considers qualification for the European Championship a mere formality for the Swiss national team. Accordingly, he was proud that his team believed in themselves and showed character to the very end. “We are cool, this is our great strength.” The Swiss also had to endure this painfully.

(jos/sda)