Xhaka, Sommer and Zakaria before the EM: “We are very optimistic”

A moment ago it seemed far away, now the European Championship is just around the corner: In a week from now, the football team will start in Baku against Wales. A groundbreaking game towards the last sixteen.

A constellation that gives goalie Yann Sommer pause for thought: “The timing is not ideal, I have to admit that,” he laughs in the virtual sports studio, connected from the training camp in Bad Ragaz SG. The beautiful background to his dilemma: Summer will be a father for the first time in the next few days or weeks. How he could be present at the birth despite the tournament, he explains in the talk, which can now be seen in the replay.

Sommer is confident: “I have a lot of confidence in the EM.” He agrees with the other two players who were guests in the virtual sports studio last Monday: Granit Xhaka and Denis Zakaria.

Captain Xhaka explains: “I’ve been with the national team for eleven years and have seen different generations. I have a feeling that this could be the generation that will make history. “

Everyone agrees that the training is tough right now. In the week before the European Championship, you can finally improve your stamina. During the tournament and between games, tactical preparation and regeneration will then be more important. For Granit Xhaka and Denis Zakaria, the hard training is a challenge for various reasons, as they say in the Credit Suisse virtual sports studio.

By the way, national team coach Vladimir Petkovic is also optimistic. On the day after winning the test against the USA (2: 1) with a moderate first half, he also said: “You can also see that we get into difficulties when some things don’t go as planned.”

Due to the long Corona season, Petkovic will exceptionally be allowed to take 26 instead of the usual 23 players to the tournament. Anyone who thinks that this is great for a coach: That is a surprising mistake, because the larger selection also worries Petkovic a little.

The three national team players also had to decide in the Credit Suisse virtual sports studio who was the biggest joker, the best Playstation gamer and the best motivator among the three. Joker? Xhaka wins here, who seems to be much more serious on the pitch than he is next to it. Playstation specialist? Zakaria unanimously wins against his older (and less interested) teammates. There is no complete agreement on the question of the motivator.

Another studio guest will also cheer: Lia Wälti, captain of the women’s national team. “I’m a lot more nervous when I’m not playing myself,” she says. “I’m rather calm and don’t yell around. But I sweat and suffer with it. “

What she knows from her own experience is the problem of public expectations. The women’s national team was shown as the favorite in the European Championship playoffs against the Czech Republic. However, she was able to qualify “only” in the penalty shoot-out. “We only read: ‘Can you withstand the pressure?’” Switzerland seems to be a critical sports nation.

Wälti herself has been interested in the national team since 1998, when she was five years old. The ultimate memory of Andreas Gerber, Head of Corporate Banking at Nati main sponsor Credit Suisse, dates back a little further: “The Wolfisberg era, when Switzerland beat England in Basel in 1981.” It was 40 years ago.

The so promising generation with Yann Sommer, Granit Xhaka, Denis Zakaria and Lia Wälti was (by no means) born.