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Unlike other Nati players, Zeki Amdouni can’t put his legs up yet.
Legend:
Does he also shoot sharply at the U21 European Championship?
Zeki Amdouni.
Freshfocus/Toto Marti
The second tranche of the European Championship qualification ended with a setback for the Swiss national team. Instead of bagging the 4th win from the 4th game against Romania, coach Murat Yakin’s team let the much-cited butter off their bread with two late goals conceded on Monday evening in Lucerne.
The draw is not a broken leg because the national team is still on course for the European Championship. Nevertheless, the players are aware “that this shouldn’t happen to us,” as Xherdan Shaqiri stated in an interview after the final whistle.
The fact that the Swiss gambled away the victory in the final minutes pushed the previously shown dominant performance into the background. And the performance of Zeki Amdouni in particular. The FCB striker had shone in just his 5th appearance for the national team before the break with a brace. What Amdouni has achieved since his premiere in national dress is extraordinary anyway.
Amdouni like then N’Kufo
Said premiere was 9 months ago. At the end of September, Amdouni came on as a substitute against the Czech Republic in the Nations League. It was to be his only game without a personal goal. In the following 4 games for Switzerland – all in the European Championship qualification – the shooting star always scored. First as a joker, before he was in the starting line-up in the following games.
Blaise N’Kufo was the last to score in four straight games for the Nati. He scored against Israel, Luxembourg, Latvia and Greece to open the World Cup qualifiers for the 2010 finals. While he scored the winning goal against the Latvians and the Greeks, the interim equalizer against Luxembourg receded into the background, and hugely at that. At the time, Switzerland lost 2-1 after conceding a late goal.
The good news: Despite the embarrassing slip, the Nati qualified for the finals in South Africa. With a lead of one point, they finished first in the group ahead of Greece.
Back to the boys
Back to Amdouni, who is not going to South Africa, Greece or anywhere else in the south for the time being. The striker, who is said to be very popular at Benfica Lisbon, is traveling on Tuesday instead of going on vacation to the U21 European Championship in Romania.
He was a bit tired physically and mentally, said Amdouni after the game against Romania. “But I still have strength.” The 22-year-old has had an intense season with numerous European Cup games under his belt. With FCB he advanced to the semifinals in the Conference League. And crowned himself with Arthur Cabral as the top scorer of this year’s campaign with 7 goals.
His scorer qualities will also be in demand with the U21s in the next few days. Switzerland will already start the tournament on Thursday with the game against Norway. The other opponents are Italy and France.