Switzerland travel to Hampden to face Scotland on the back of an impressive 3-0 Nations League win in North Macedonia, a result they achieved without captain Granit Xhaka and striker Breel Embolo. Switzerland feel they did ‘a great job’ of coping with two significant absentees.
Xhaka, the Sunderland midfielder, was omitted from the squad last week. The 34-year-old reportedly confessed to using a fake certificate to avoid a mandatory vaccination during the Covid pandemic and is under investigation by Swiss prosecutors. On the eve of the opener in Skopje, the Swiss FA announced that Atlanta United striker Embolo, 29, had informed it about ‘the matter concerning his private life that became public in the media today’. Embolo, who moved to Major League Soccer in August from Rennes, had already been suspended for Saturday’s game after his red card against Argentina. He will not join the squad as planned in Glasgow, and both he and Xhaka will miss Switzerland’s home match against Slovenia on 3 October and North Macedonia three days later.
The Swiss FA said the national team would complete its current training camp without Embolo ‘to ensure the team’s focus remains firmly’ on the Nations League matches.
On the pitch, Remo Freuler opened the scoring with his first international goal in almost two years. Zeki Amdouni headed into Freuler’s path and the midfielder fired low into the corner from 15 yards after 22 minutes. Amdouni, the Burnley midfielder, then scored two similar finishes of his own, three minutes before half-time and with just over a quarter-of-an-hour remaining, although North Macedonia goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski should have done better with the first. Zachary Athekame provided both assists on an impressive debut for the 21-year-old right-back, who is on loan at Lyon from AC Milan. Parma right-back Sascha Britschgi and Sion striker Winsley Boteli also made their senior debuts from the bench, while Milan’s Ardon Jashari marshalled midfield in Xhaka’s absence.
Freuler said: ‘We don’t need to talk about Granit. He’s a player who can’t be replaced. As a team, we have to make up for that. We did a great job of that against North Macedonia. Let’s hope it continues this way and that Granit comes back soon. We had a few new players and they all did very well. It was a perfect match for us really.’
Head coach Murat Yakin was pleased with the first-half display. ‘The first half was very good indeed,’ he said. ‘The shot count was 17-1 to us. We are very strong at pressing teams and that’s why we did so well at the World Cup. It worked well again against North Macedonia. We weren’t as good in the second half and they came into the game and created a few chances but they weren’t really dangerous.’ Overall, Switzerland had 22 goal attempts, 13 on target, to their hosts’ two off target. Yakin added: ‘We’ve worked with these players who were here. We’ve never complained and there’s always an opportunity for other players.’
Switzerland have now lost just once in their last 10 outings, a 3-1 extra-time defeat to Argentina in the World Cup quarter-final. They will look to carry that form into the meeting with Scotland at Hampden.