Win or fly: that’s what moves the national team before the qualifying match

Three competitive matches in seven days, that didn’t even happen last year in the Nations League and later at the World Cup in Qatar. The national team will meet in Basel on Monday and an evening later the plane will leave for Hungary, where the catch-up match against Israel will take place on Wednesday in Felcsut (near Budapest). Flight back to Basel on Thursday, home game against Kosovo on Saturday. Then back on the plane to Romania, where the tenth and final European Championship qualifying match starts on Tuesday evening.

The first and second groups secure the direct ticket for the 2024 European Championship in Germany. The following applies to the national team: With two wins from the last three matches, they are through. Four points are enough if Romania is defeated in the last match. If the national team misses 1st or 2nd place, the European Championship ticket could be secured in March 2024 through the play-offs. To do this, the national team depends on the support of teams in other groups.

“Now it’s about Yakin’s job,” Blick headlined after the 3-3 draw against Belarus. Not only because of the embarrassing result against the Eastern Europeans, but especially because of the sporting decline of the national team and the atmospheric unrest in and around the team. If the national team misses direct European Championship qualification, a future with Yakin is unthinkable. If the ticket is booked, his contract will be automatically extended until the 2024 European Championship. Win or fly! In an interview with “CH Media” SFV chairman Dominique Blanc says: “We are traveling to the European Championships with Yakin.” A statement probably with the aim of keeping the coaching discussion during the qualifying match under wraps. At the same time, Blanc announces talks before the end of the year. In fact, the rumors about contacts with Lucien Favre do not stop.

Although they publicly say “everything is fine”, the conflict between Murat Yakin and Granit ). A long-term future together for the duo in the national team seems more than doubtful. Unless they both take big steps towards each other. According to reports, the clinch is less about personal animosity and more about different ideas about training intensity and technical-tactical aspects. Xhaka is used to training at the highest level from his clubs, which is difficult to implement in the national team for various reasons. One thing is clear: if Yakin leads the national team to the European Championship, the alpha animals must find each other. And for that you also need the organizing hand of the association, of Nati director Pierluigi Tami.

There are (quite a few) voices in favor of a changing of the guard at the Nati goal. For performance reasons: BVB star Gregor Kobel has been performing at world level for months, Yann Sommer hasn’t always seemed to be at the top of his game lately, at least not in the national team, and made two mistakes in the 3-3 draw against White -Russia. However, there will be no role reversal before the three most important matches of the year. “We have communicated that Yann is number 1. Nothing will change in this constellation,” says Yakin. “But Gregor shows top performances and of course pressing.” Kobel will be in goal for at least one of the three matches, possibly on Wednesday in Hungary against Israel.

In mid-October, the captain overtook Heinz Hermann – next week against Israel, Granit Xhaka (30), if he is fit, will play his 119th international match and he will be the only record player. A new milestone in Xhaka’s career. By the way: Xhaka is being closely followed by Xherdan Shaqiri (32) with one match less.

They perform top at ManCity and Newcastle, but have recently become unrecognizable in the national team: Manuel Akanji and Fabian Schär. Their failures led, among other things, to the three goals conceded against Belarus. Nevertheless, they both got a call-up as Akanji gave the all-clear after his back block just before the match against YB. It can be assumed that Nico Elvedi will take Schär’s place; in Yakin’s eyes he is a better match for Akanji. According to Yakin, another option is to play with a three-man chain. The outside positions are questionable: Ricardo Rodriguez recently had to leave Torino with an injury – at least the MRI showed no serious injuries. On the right, Mainz captain Silvan Widmer is still injured. And Jordan Lotomba is also not in the selection.