Switzerland in shock after late goal: Xhaka demands discipline and realism
Switzerland failed to win against Qatar despite numerous opportunities and was awarded the equalizer in injury time. Granit Xhaka criticized the team's discipline and patience and called for realism towards the remaining group matches.
Switzerland wanted to start this World Cup with bravado, but immediately suffered damage in Santa Clara. Murat Yakin's team had sufficient opportunities against Qatar to decide the match early, but ultimately had to settle for a point due to a late goal in injury time.
The disappointment was great for captain Granit Xhaka, who described his team's performance as insufficiently disciplined. According to the midfielder, Switzerland gradually lost patience and therefore also the rhythm. He also pointed out the pitfall of trying to force things instead of continuing to follow the plan.
The ambitions beforehand were not bad: the Rossocrociati are participating in the world tournament for the thirteenth time, but never got further than the quarter-finals. In their own country, people openly dreamed of the best Swiss World Cup ever. “Switzerland dreams of the best World Cup in history, but starts with a draw against Qatar,” concluded Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
Qatar had little say for a long time, but was still allowed to celebrate afterwards. Because Switzerland missed opportunity after opportunity, Boualem Khoukhi was able to strike in extra time. It gave Qatar the first World Cup point in history. Xhaka acknowledged to SRF that his team knew the opponent would be lurking at a moment's notice – and that's exactly what happened.
Afterwards, the Swiss captain once again emphasized discipline and role stability. In his eyes, too often everyone walked away from position 'without a plan', when it was precisely about carrying out tasks as the national coach asked them to do. He also praised Qatari goalkeeper Mahmud Abunad, who kept his team going with several saves.
Xhaka called for realism for the rest of the group stage: you can dream, but above all you need to take action. Switzerland will play the second group match against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday evening (9 p.m.) and will meet Canada on June 24.
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