Keystone
Switzerland are still without points after their third Nations League match. The national team lost the away game against Serbia 0:2 after a poor performance.
No, Switzerland are unable to find a way out of their autumn slump in Serbia. National coach Murat Yakin’s team had set their sights high. They wanted to show that a lot had gone against them in the first two games of the Nations League. They wanted to show that the mechanisms were working again thanks to the slightly longer preparation time. They wanted to beat Serbia for a third time in a row after the two emotional and hard-fought victories at the World Cups in Russia and Qatar.
But things turned out differently. Switzerland once again showed the same face that it had shown in the fall of last year: harmless offensively and quickly unsettled defensively. In the end, there were hardly any shots on goal – but an own goal and a missed penalty. Meanwhile, the Serbs, who had scored just one goal in their previous five games, converted their chances with ice-cold precision.
Provocations from the stands
Once again, Switzerland started the first half well and pushed the Serbs back into their own half. The fans in the stands reacted with political chants directed at Swiss captain Granit Xhaka. These were provocations that were unfortunately to be expected. For the time being, the Swiss were unimpressed.
The initially surprisingly passive Serbs became more courageous after around half an hour and began to put pressure on the team with advances down the flanks. Silvan Widmer and Nico Elvedi in particular were repeatedly overrun. Both saw yellow when they brought down an escaped player.
However, it was the overall body language that changed. The Serbs celebrated successful tackles, pushed each other on and, towards the end of the first half, actually managed to seemingly intimidate the Swiss and push them back. You could sense that the Swiss were longing for the break – and then there was another free kick. This was kicked into the dangerous area, where Nico Elvedi unfortunately deflected the ball into his own goal.
A failure right down the line
The fact that it was Elvedi who made the mishap is telling. The defender, who was supposed to fill the gap after the retirement of Fabian Schär, has been extremely unlucky so far. In Copenhagen, it was the (harsh) red card against him that put Switzerland on the road to defeat. Now the 28-year-old Borussia Mönchengladbach defender was also responsible for the defeat in Leskovac.
However, it would be wrong to blame Elvedi alone. The Swiss failed collectively. There was little resistance in the second half either. Instead, Gregor Kobel had to make a great save shortly after the restart to prevent the deficit from increasing further. However, he too was powerless in the 61st minute when Aleksandar Mitrovic curled the ball into the net from the edge of the penalty area. This time, Manuel Akanji, who let Mitrovic do it, did not look good. The Swiss were well aware of the attacker’s qualities: he had already scored against Switzerland in both World Cup matches.
Embolo fails from the penalty spot
The penalty in the 72nd minute might have been the chance to get back into the game. But Predrag Rajkovic fended off Breel Embolo’s shot. It was fitting for a completely unsuccessful evening for Switzerland. Switzerland are now four points behind Serbia and relegation to League B for the first time is suddenly very close.
The Swiss national team continue their campaign on Tuesday. The third meeting with Denmark this year will take place in St. Gallen. After the draw in the test match in March and the bitter defeat in the Nations League opener in September, the Swiss will be looking for their first/next win.
Serbia – Switzerland 2:0 (1:0)
Leskovac. – SR Sozza (ITA). – Goals: 45. Elvedi (own goal) 1:0. 61. Mitrovic (Zdjelar) 2:0.
Serbia: Rajkovic; Erakovic, Milenkovic, Pavlovic; Nedeljkovic (74. Simic), Maksimovic, Grujic (46. Jovic), Birmancevic (88. Cumic); Samardzic, Lukic (54. Zdjelar); Mitrovic (74. Maksimovic).
Switzerland: Kobel; Elvedi, Akanji, Rodriguez (70. Garcia); Widmer (46. Rieder), Freuler, Xhaka, Aebischer (70. Edimilson Fernandes); Amdouni (70. Zeqiri), Embolo (86. Monteiro), Ndoye.
Remarks: 72nd Rajkovic saves Embolo’s foul penalty. Cautions: 23 Widmer, 44 Elvedi, 71 Nedeljkovic, 85 Simic, 93 Samardzic.
Ranking
1. Spain 3/7 (5:1). 2. Denmark 3/6 (4:1). 3. Serbia 3/4 (2:2). 4. Switzerland 3/0 (1:8).
SDA