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On the day of the Swiss national team’s World Cup game in Qatar, we leaf through the newspapers for opponents Serbia and come across factual, provocative things – and an alleged error.
Legend:
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Granit Xhaka before departure for Qatar: A Serbian daily newspaper would like to see a similar scene.
Keystone/Ennio Leanza
“It’s about the chance of a generation. Now it says: ‘To be or not to be!’» This line from the newspaper Kurir gives an idea of the importance of the decisive game of the Serbs at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar against Switzerland in their own country. Serbia needs a win for the round of 16 qualification on Friday, a draw should be enough for the national team.
The polemics we experienced 4 years ago at the World Cup in Russia in the run-up to the same affiche can hardly be felt on day 0 either.
Swiss can “play blindfolded”
So warns Dana’s for example, factually that Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri are not the only dangers in the Swiss team. “The secret of the continued success of their maintained and developed system is that the lads could play blindfolded in Qatar. Everyone knows exactly when to stand where.”
At the well-known newspaper politics there isn’t even a preview of the game to be found – it’s at the center Germany’s elimination in the group stage.
Slight provocations can be found in the aforementioned Kurir, one of the largest-circulation tabloid newspapers in Serbia. This is how she captions it:
GO MAN! WE ALL STAND BEHIND YOU! Serbia, this is the match of the decade! May Switzerland fall, may Shaqiri and Xhaka pack their bags!
It is easy to see that the daily from Belgrade is not averse to a solid number of clicks. The sports section of the Friday edition opens with a lurid headline that raises the question of whether the newspaper got the date wrong: “BRAVO, GUYS! SERBIA SURVIVED THE GROUP STAGE AT THE WORLD CUP: A draw against the Swiss was enough for the great success of the ‹Adler› (Adoption of the Serbian Nati, d. editor.)»
The matter is then clarified in the article: The national team of the Serbian fans is in the second round of the World Cup in Qatar. In addition to victories against Cameroon and Brazil, there was a 1-1 draw against Switzerland, both teams are now in the round of 16. Fifa introduced the novelty in Qatar that, in addition to the real World Cup, a fans’ World Cup will also be played, the latter however on a small field.
Players get hot
Yet Kurir remains an exception. The players themselves also keep the ball low. Juve star Dusan Vlahovic was even forced to end wild rumors about an alleged affair with the wife of a teammate at the final press conference on Thursday.
In his Instagram story on the day of the match, he addressed his teammates as “Let’s go”, while teammate Nemanja Radonjic propagated “Full throttle”. That’s the way it should be.