Switzerland vs Albania a few quick thoughts
Dan Tracey
June 12, 2016
1,253 Views
- Albania’s first appearance in a major tournament didn’t get off to the best of starts
- The game was an intriguing story of family links over two sides with the Xhaka brothers representing each nation. Granit for Switzerland and Taulant for Albania
- Not to mention Xhedran Shaqiri playing for the Swiss and a whole host of others who had dual nationality
- But love for the motherland would have gone out of the window once kick off arrived and it was Switzerland who got out of the blocks quickest and put a dampener on Albania’s party
- It only took 5 minutes for Fabian Schar to put Switzerland ahead
- How Albania wish they could turn back time (Sorry to any Cher fans who maybe reading this)
- Albania only really had themselves to blame for the solitary goal of the game
- Etrit Berisha flapped at Xherdan Shaqiri’s corner and was left in no man’s land giving Schar a free header
- The day went from bad to worse for Albania
- First Captian Lorik Cana was booked for a reckless tackle in the middle of the park
- And then on 36 minutes he was given his marching orders after handling on the edge of the box after being caught out of position
- Switzerland nearly made it 2-0 from the subsequent free kick but fortunately for Albania the effort hit the base of the post and went wide
- But that’s not to say that Albania were without their chances, arguably Yann Sommer was the hero for Switzerland
- In the first half he was on hand to save from a Armando Sadiku effort
- And then with just three minutes to go he made a crucial save after Shkelzen Gashi looked odds on to score an unlikely equaliser
- Switzerland held out to secure all three points and go second in the group
- Arsenal fans keeping an eye on Granit Xhaka will have been impressed, he looked neat on the ball but perhaps Albania didn’t give a a real test as to what the Swiss midfielder can do
- But the early signs look encouraging
- For Switzerland they go up against Romania next while Albania face hosts France without Captain Lorik Cana
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