A goal from Vaudois Jordan Lotomba earned the national team a 1-1 draw once morest Kosovo on Tuesday. But the selection of Murat Yakin did not shine.
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Florent Hadergjonaj (left) and Xherdan Shaqiri were forced to share the stake.
The snub was avoided by Jordan Lotomba. For his fifth selection with the Swiss team, the Vaudois scored and allowed the national team not to suffer a second defeat in three days, following that in England on Saturday. Final score: a 1-1, which is much more the pride of Kosovo than that of Switzerland. It was on a center snatch from Kevin Mbabu, shifted by Shaqiri, that the Nice side was able to find the fault of a well-placed header on the hour mark.
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Highlight of an early evening in Zurich placed under the sign of friendship between two nations, but not necessarily under that of controlled football. At least as far as Switzerland is concerned, by far not convincing, like its captain Granit Xhaka, who was nevertheless celebrating his 100th selection but never really being in tune.
Poor performance
There are many things to put in the balance, to alleviate the concern and put the poor Swiss performance into perspective: the very friendly nature of this match, which was sold out, the over-motivation of a Kosovo with very determined intentions, the rotation practiced by Murat Yakin. Among others. But that does not excuse everything.
In any case, not the Swiss inability to create a concrete goal opportunity during the first period, except perhaps this shot from Steven Zuber following a breakthrough by Eray Cömert and slammed by goalkeeper Arijanet Muric (39th). Let us also mention, for the form, the strike of Mario Gavranovic which flew away in the sky of Zurich (22nd) and this distant test of a very borrowed Shaqiri, just before the break.
Missed pass by Zuber
Not enough to call into question the intensity and courage of the Kosovars, much more determined in their approach to the match. To the point of twice truly endangering Gregor Kobel, established in the Swiss goals, in the first half: at the quarter of an hour, when Amir Rrahmani headed, or when an attempt by Valon Berisha also forced the Borussia Dortmund goalkeeper to get employed.
This means that when, at the start of the second period, Milos Rashica opened the scoring, there was really nothing to be surprised regarding. Kosovo had certainly been able to take advantage of a completely missed back pass from Steven Zuber, allowing Bytiqi to create danger, but this sanctioned yet another culpable release on the Swiss side. The only one to be expensive, fortunately.
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Not enough to be satisfied with for Murat Yakin, who will not avoid many thoughts between now and the League of Nations next June.
