The relationship with Yakin will be tested at the World Cup

An Instagram film with Granit Xhaka and Ricardo Rodriguez, “Me or you”, is the name of the format. There is no Swiss international who knows Xhaka better than Rodriguez. The third question is: “Who freaks out faster?” Both call Xhaka, Rodriguez says: “If something is not going well, he freaks out quickly and speaks his mind.” Xhaka nods.

Last Wednesday the Captain Xhaka gave his opinion. The Swiss national team flies from Doha to Abu Dhabi, one hour flight time, friendly against Ghana. A scheduled flight, the footballers are spread across the entire plane between locals, tourists and media representatives. Xhaka is the last national player to board the plane, and when he sees what awaits him, he begins to rant.

While most teammates seem to accept the unfamiliar situation with equanimity or humor, Xhaka curses and speaks of a miserable organization. At some point he thinks it would have been better if the players had booked and paid for a charter flight themselves. Sitting in the midst of strange passengers so shortly before the World Cup is irresponsible in times of a pandemic.

The trip is not well organized for the demands and needs of a World Cup participant. Xhaka’s anger is understandable. On the one hand. On the other hand, for example, the SFV President Dominique Blanc wears a mask.

That’s Xhaka. Direct. Noisy. Sometimes everything breaks out of him, the impatience, the unbridled, the passionate.

A short fact check, without claiming to be complete: 14 dismissals and 153 warnings in just over 600 games as a professional.

Most Swiss World Cup captains were not easy characters

Xhaka does what he likes. Or as happens to him. In June 2021, for example: Although the national coach Vladimir Petkovic explicitly asked the players before the EM to spend the days off with their families because of Corona, Xhaka got a tattoo and put the picture on social media.

2022: After FC Basel, his former club, lost to FC Zurich, today’s Arsenal player writes two hearty comments under an FCB post.

Can such an emotional person be a good national team captain? The question has haunted Xhaka ever since he became captain. But were its predecessors different?

Apart from Gökhan Inler, Captain 2014, all Swiss World Cup captains since 2006 have not been comfortable figures. Sooner or later everyone felt misunderstood at some point. Johann Vogel, the 2006 World Cup captain, was not a player who spread a good mood. But he was a point of reference for coach Köbi Kuhn when it came to tactical questions. When Kuhn told him on the phone in 2007 that he would no longer call him out, Vogel is said to have told him to get on the plane and “pat” him.

Stephan Lichtsteiner, the 2018 World Cup captain, was no longer particularly pointed in public after he had once spoken of “right” and “other” Swiss people and felt that he was not properly understood. Lichtsteiner enjoyed a lot of acceptance by virtue of his career, winning countless titles with Juventus alongside the likes of Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Pirlo and Alessandro Del Piero. “You learn from such players, you grow from them,” says Lichtsteiner today. “And then you live what has been shown to you: always be hungry, never let up, always give your best, no matter what you’ve already experienced.” Lichtsteiner thinks that this attitude to work is needed because a captain also makes mistakes and does things “that are okay for you, but maybe not for others”.

Always hungry, never let up, always the maximum – it could be Xhaka’s words. And making mistakes: It’s also Xhaka’s experience.

Alex Frei, the 2010 World Cup captain, said long after his retirement that he realized he wasn’t a player that everyone wanted to hug when he walked into a room. He, too, often felt misunderstood and wrongly criticized.

According to Frei, Xhaka said last week when he stood in front of the media after the 2-0 defeat by Ghana: “Now you have something negative to write about again, hey!” Yes, in such moments nobody would think of hugging him. But sometimes Xhaka is also warm and humorous. When he answers fun questions with his friend Rodriguez. Or when he gives him a TV interview, like in the fall after the 2-1 win against the Czech Republic. Xhaka’s 30th birthday, Rodriguez’s 100th cap. They beam and announce in exuberance that they will play a few more tournaments. The reserved Rodriguez thaws alongside the communicative Xhaka. With his style, Xhaka also gives security.

Mönchengladbach still haven’t sold a player for more money than Xhaka

It’s almost exactly 13 years since Xhaka and Rodriguez became U-17 world champions together. Even then you can see how relentless Xhaka is, with himself and against the others. At 16, a cruciate ligament rupture jeopardized his career before it even started. Xhaka returns just in time to play at the 2009 U-17 World Cup.

In 2012, when he was only 19, he moved from FCB to Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga. After just a few weeks, German newspapers and experts were advising him to “shut up”. With pithy statements, Xhaka even irritates the self-confident Germans. But after four years he leaves the club for a transfer fee of around 45 million euros. To date, Xhaka is by far the most expensive sale from Mönchengladbach.

Xhaka is loyal, perseveres. He has been with Arsenal since 2016. He’s a captain, gets hissed at, insults the audience, uses swear words, loses his captain’s armband. There seems to be no future for him at Arsenal in 2019. Three years later he is playing stronger than ever with the Premier League leader. Recently, fans sang loudly in praise of Xhaka as he gave an on-field interview and, his eyes sparkling, took another swear word, this time as a sign of overpowering, live on TV.

At the World Cup in Doha, Xhaka is emblazoned as a huge advertising figure on a skyscraper. Xhaka, stand-up man and poster boy. He falls low, flies high. His footballing class, the outstanding passing game, the strategic skills are undisputed, he is a designer who also takes up a lot of space on the pitch. There are claims that Djibril Sow and Denis Zakaria have never really realized their potential in the national team because Xhaka sucks everything in the middle. It seems he can never get it right. A career in the extremes.

Penalties, double-headed eagles, bans – there was always something at the finals

Xhaka has already completed 107 international matches, although he is only 30 years old. At the World Cup in Qatar he is contesting the fifth tournament in a row as a regular player, also looking for reconciliation.

World Cup 2014: In the round of 16 against Argentina, Xhaka was placed on the wing by coach Ottmar Hitzfeld. He narrowly escaped being sent off after the break and was substituted shortly afterwards.

EM 2016: In the round of 16 against Poland, Xhaka was the only player to miss a penalty shoot-out.

World Cup 2018: In the third group game against Serbia, he triggers an affair with the double-headed eagle jubilation that almost tears the association apart. In the round of 16 against Sweden he is colorless and has no energy.

EM 2021: In the round of 16 against France, he showed perhaps his best performance as a national player, but also received the second warning in the tournament and was suspended for the quarter-finals against Spain. Reason for both warnings: complaints. He spoke his mind.

For Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a footballer who is causing even more controversy, the word “zlatanieren” has officially become commonplace in his home country. For Xhaka, the word «xhakaesk» might have to be created at some point. Nobody would know exactly what it is, but everyone would understand.

Ahead of the 2021 quarter-finals in Spain, Xhaka said: “The boys are doing it without me. I’m looking forward to the semifinals and the final at home in London.” He missed the biggest game of his career, the “boys” missed the semi-finals – and so Xhaka is hoping again for the biggest game of his career at this World Cup. As always, Xhaka packed enough clothes for the final, it’s his dictum that he used early on before finals. It is now put in his mouth before he even opens his mouth.

When asked about his luggage on Monday last week, before leaving for Doha, he didn’t bat an eyelid. He prefers to talk about a “big Swiss team” and how important the first World Cup game against Cameroon will be. World star Neymar? Will you fight as a team in the second game against Brazil. Serbia? Xhaka’s face hardens, he doesn’t talk about the third game. He stands there, legs apart, staring at the journalists, dominant, self-confident. Xhakaesk. Show no doubts. me against you Us against everyone.

Yakin and Xhaka are related in spirit and soul, but separated hierarchically

There is a picture of him hugging the then national coach Vladimir Petkovic after winning the round of 16 against France. It shows so clearly the relief that they showed it to everyone.

Petkovic was the coach who strengthened and sustained Xhaka. But the more often other national players resigned, the more there was a lack of a hierarchical counterpart to Xhaka. It is the big difference to the Murat Yakin era. The new national coach keeps saying that he appreciates Xhaka and protects him when necessary; but he says just as often that for him no one is greater than the team. And Yakin is strong enough to be Xhaka’s antithesis.

They are similar, related in spirit and soul, but separated hierarchically. They had to find a way to get along with each other. Xhaka was upset when Yakin substituted him against Kosovo in March. Xhaka was upset when Yakin let him play more attacking than he imagined against the Czech Republic in June. Xhaka said coaches who knew him and knew “what my position is let me play deeper”.

But a few days later, Xhaka slammed the journalist who recorded the interview with the explosive statement after the 4-0 draw against Portugal. It was a hint that Xhaka might sometimes marvel at what he’s saying himself.

At Arsenal, Xhaka has a coach in Mikel Arteta, whom he really values. Arteta, of all people, lets him play much higher this season than Yakin demanded in the Czech Republic – and Xhaka executes without a murmur.

Yakin and Xhaka spoke out over the summer. Xhaka said, “Yakin is the boss.” The relationship is put to the test at the World Cup.

Xhaka and Rodriguez have a special request

There is something remarkable about the way Stephan Lichtsteiner, Xhaka’s predecessor as captain, talks about the end of his career. He says the boys respect when a 36-year-old no longer has the same power as when they were 30 – “but when they see that you are committed to the team, that you are playing for the team and not for your own records: then you are you just extremely believable.”

It’s that fine line: A captain should be important, but not take himself too seriously. Petkovic accepted Xhaka’s greatness unconditionally. And it is the crucial point in this relationship question: Does Yakin even allow Xhaka’s size? Perhaps it is a requirement that is almost impossible to fulfill in the Yakin system.

The flight to Abu Dhabi showed that when he is in attack mode, Xhaka finds opponents in his own ranks. Then it’s not easy to like him. But it’s also like this: In Doha, all Swiss national players live in single rooms. Xhaka and Rodriguez are the only players who have requested that they be put in two rooms that have a connecting door.