What happens now to Yakin and Tami?: The Nati is at a crossroads

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It’s Bucharest again. Once again the national team plays a groundbreaking match. A “historic match”, as SFV chairman Dominique Blanc said hours before the match. Like then, on June 28, 2021.

At the European Championships, which were postponed by a year due to the Covid pandemic, the national team under Vladimir Petkovic is at the peak of its performances. She puts in a brilliant performance against world champion France. Finally the hurdle of the round of 16 has been overcome. On the umpteenth attempt.

Convincing national team, chaotic national team

Both the temperature in Bucharest and the mood around the national team have dropped significantly compared to the summer of 2021. Despite qualifying for the European Championship, there is little sense of euphoria. The national team even threw away its group victory with four games without a win in a row. The joy of the national team? It’s like it’s been blown away. Because this team is at a crossroads.

A few weeks after the 2021 Bucharest coup, the Petkovic era ended after seven years. Despite the success, many internally are happy that the Ticino resident has left for Bordeaux. His successor is Murat Yakin: With his open, winning manner and his charm, he quickly has everyone on board: employees, players, journalists. And sporting success follows quickly. Italy is eliminated on the way to Qatar with the luck of the brave. The national team convinced in the preliminary round.

But the problems start in Doha. It’s December 6, Lusail Stadium, World Cup round of 16. The opponent is Portugal. Hopes for a similar coup as last year at the European Championships are high, which makes the landing on the ground of reality all the more difficult: 1:6. Not only the level of the result raises questions, but also what happens next in the catacombs. The players’ contradictory statements led to only one conclusion: there was chaos.

Yakin achieves all goals, but…

Last spring, at the start of the European Championship campaign, the World Cup was already a long way away. Especially because the start was successful with a 5-0 win in Serbian exile against Belarus and a 3-0 win against Israel in Geneva. Ten games, ten wins, which Captain Granit Xhaka sets as an audacious goal, is not an unrealistic scenario. The World Cup blow against Portugal – a mistake by a physically weakened team.

A year later, events in Qatar are now catching up with those responsible. There will be an internal exam. Those responsible for the SFV have emphasized this again and again in recent days. The most important question is: what’s next for this national team? What happens to Nati director Pierluigi Tami? And most importantly: who will get this team back on track? Is it Murat Yakin, who has achieved all his goals as national coach, but is responsible for the sporting decline in recent months?

Yakin failed to use the easy qualifying group to promote the change urgently needed for qualification for the 2026 World Cup. Many things remained patchy, although youngsters like Amdouni, Jashari, Ndoye, Rieder, Stergiou, Ugrinic and Zeqiri made their first national team appearances under Yakin, but with the exception of Amdouni they were not used regularly. The core of the team remained the same, even if one or the other is past their prime.

The symptoms were ignored

The national coach also made other mistakes. In communication, in team management, in external representation. When the team has long since lost its sovereignty and can no longer beat clearly weaker opponents, he still speaks of ‘dominant performance’. The media criticism? Incomprehensible to him. But the fact is: without the help of Romania against Israel last Saturday, the match in Bucharest would have been a shaky match.

Yakin’s boss Pierluigi Tami is also partly responsible for the flawed campaign. The Ticino native failed to gain profile during qualifying. He said during his presentation in the fall of 2019 that he did not want to cause any disruption. A statement that still sticks with him today. Tami did not want to be bothered when the crisis symptoms within the team became increasingly visible in the fall.

So now it comes to the grand order of interpretation. If those responsible come to the conclusion that Yakin is no longer the right person, it would be a first in history, as no coach has ever had to leave his position involuntarily after qualifying. Then President Blanc would be right. Because then yesterday’s performance in Bucharest would actually be historic.

Source : Blick