Sebastian Rieder, Vilnius
It’s the 65th minute in Vilnius Stadium. At the moment Switzerland are comfortably 3-0 ahead against Lithuania and are in control of everything. A time point that Sascha Ruefer uses to reach the first score. “Freuler is business as usual, too. They are two reliable factors. Of course you miss the creative part that Zacharias could come up with.”
So far, so good. But then, SRF’s suspension starts smoothly with Granit Xhaka absent due to injury: “But even today I say it frankly: I don’t miss Xhaka.” Then Rovier at the same time credits: “Of course it is better to play with him, but you do not miss him. The Swiss have found solutions to this problem. We take a deep breath.”
SRF commentator Sacha Rover: “I don’t miss Xhaka”(00:28)
Murat Yakin also has to take a deep breath when he only hears the bare sentence in the press conference that Rovir will not miss Xhaka. “I’m a little annoyed by this statement,” Yakin says. “We want everyone in their constitution. Everyone has good moments. Granit has shown that he is important to the team at all times. You have to respect that, too. This statement is totally misplaced.”
Xhaka is also irreplaceable for Ruefer
Yakin doesn’t know the context at the moment, so the day after the 4-0 win in Lithuania, Rover told Blake: “I stand by my statement, but it’s not about criticizing Xhaka. It’s irreplaceable. My opinion is that Yakin has found good substitutes in midfield. With a combination of Freuler and Zakaria as well as Sow and Frei. You can absorb the failure of Xhaka. The Swiss game works even if granite is not included.”
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