Switzerland drew 1-1 against Serbia in the Nations League and are relegated to League B. For Andreas Böni, Murat Yakin’s team took too many risks. The blue Sport editor-in-chief doesn’t like the fact that the national team is playing at the Letzigrund.
The assessment of blue Sport editor-in-chief Andreas Böni
The Nati are relegated from Nation League Group A after the 1:1 draw against Serbia. Perhaps they should simply stop playing at the Letzigrund. This stadium brings Switzerland no luck at all. They haven’t won here since 2007 (3:1 win against Austria in the then new stadium). Since then, there has been the embarrassment against Luxembourg and now relegation.
The big question after this game is, of course, whether they should have taken so many risks at the end with the score at 1-0 and really gone for the 2-0? Or would it have been better to preserve the chance of still pulling something off in Spain? Yes, we probably took a little too much risk, we probably ran into the Serbian counter-attack a little naively. But in the end it’s also a learning process for this young team.
Yesterday, it has to be said, we had a skeleton crew on the pitch that actually did very, very well. Young players like Amenda (21), young players like Cömert (26) and Amdouni (23) did really, really well. And you also have to say that the Nations League games are better test matches. That’s what’s happened now.
But the important thing is qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. Normally, a good premiere follows a botched dress rehearsal. That’s why the national team has to learn now and then hope that it can qualify for the World Cup again.
The national team’s matches at the Letzigrund
- October 13, 2007: Switzerland – Austria 3:1 (test match)
- November 20, 2007: Switzerland – Nigeria 0:1 (test match)
- September 10, 2008: Switzerland – Luxembourg 1:2 (World Cup qualifier)
- March 31, 2015: Switzerland – USA 1:1 (test match)
- March 29, 2016: Switzerland – Bosnia-Herzegovina 0:2 (test match)
- March 29, 2022: Switzerland – Kosovo 1:1 (test match)
- November 15, 2024: Switzerland – Serbia 1:1 (Nations League)