After Switzerland's 1:1 draw against Serbia in the Nations League, Murat Yakin is primarily annoyed about his team's inefficiency and not about the late goal they conceded or their first relegation.
16.11.2024, 01:21
16.11.2024, 09:46
SDA
Of course he was disappointed about the relegation, but the defensive performance and chance creation were good, the Swiss national coach emphasized in the aftermath of the game at Letzigrund, in which Zeki Amdouni scored in the 79th minute to make it 1-0 and the Serbs equalized in the 88th minute. "To limit the performance to the goal conceded would be wrong."
Many chances, little efficiency
Yakin said that his team "put in a lot of effort" and "implemented what we had planned". "We had a lot of chances, but not the efficiency. Of course, the goal we conceded is annoying, but I'm not going to hold it against us. I think we need to talk more about the chances we created than the goal we conceded."
In fact, after an uneventful opening phase, the Swiss had several good opportunities to set the course for a victory with a difference of more than one goal, thus averting early relegation from League A of the Nations League and still having league survival in their own hands in the final match against Spain on Monday. Among other things, Noah Okafor missed a top chance in the first half and the Milan striker hit the crossbar on another occasion. Edimilson Fernandes' 2:0 was thwarted by the post.
Special praise for Amenda
After conceding ten goals in the previous four games, the Swiss defense, improvised in the wake of the absences of Manuel Akanji and Nico Elvedi, did not concede much against Serbia's top strikers Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dusan Vlahovic, apart from the foul penalty saved by Gregor Kobel and the late 1:1. Yakin implicitly emphasized the good performance of Aurèle Amenda, who played his first game for the senior national team: "He was a bright spot. His performance was great, he actually did everything right."
Switzerland conceded the equalizer through a counter-attack primarily because they went all out for the all-important 2-0 after taking the lead. "We had a certain euphoria after 1-0, but then we were a little too unfocused. When we conceded the goal, we had seven players in the opposition box. We probably lacked a bit of experience," said Yakin.
