Yakin puts himself on a par with his predecessor Petkovic

June 29, 2024 is a big day for Swiss football. In the sixth round of 16 in a row at a major tournament, the national team achieved something it has never done before in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium: a win in regular time. And the way in which the Swiss achieved this victory was impressive: stylish, dominant and superior in every respect. The opponent was not Poland like in 2016 or Sweden in 2018, when the Swiss lost the round of 16. It was Italy, a giant in world football, the current European champions.

England or Slovakia?

The manner of the victory was impressive. The Squadra Azzurra disappointed in every respect, but the Swiss team’s performance was convincing in every respect: At no point in the game was the team coached by Murat Yakin in danger of losing the victory. Now the path to the semi-final is open.

On Sunday evening, England and Slovakia will decide which team will stand in the way of the Swiss next Saturday. After their victory against Italy, the Swiss can be trusted to continue their European Championship summer fairytale.

Qualifying for the quarter-finals is also a victory for coach Murat Yakin. He is now on the same level as his predecessor Vladimir Petkovic, who had already reached the quarter-finals three years ago. But in the match against world champions France, a feat of strength in extra time and a penalty shootout win were combined with the necessary luck. In Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, the Swiss were quite simply the better team.

This was not foreseeable just a few months ago. But anyone who has observed the team, the coach and the staff in recent days has seen a development that has now culminated in Berlin. “Flow” is what you could call the state that the Swiss selection has worked itself into in Germany: we seize the opportunity when it presents itself. That has been successful. Now the “flow” should carry the Swiss forward. “Our journey is not over yet,” said Yakin.

Before the match, Yakin had posted the Berlin Victory Column on his private social media channel. He probably liked it as a motto for Saturday when he saw the symbolic monument of the German capital from the bus on the way to the stadium. It was an expression of the coach’s certainty that things would go well for him and his players. And it was also an expression of his satisfaction that the victory was also his. Yakin is a completely different coach in June than he was six months ago.

Back then, he seemed tired and absent, for example during the 0-1 defeat in Bucharest or after the 1-1 draw against Israel. Perhaps the death of his mother had affected him more than he wanted to admit; perhaps the team was unhappy with the way Yakin was doing his job. The players were grumpy and bad-tempered after qualifying, as if they had had to complete tedious mandatory appointments. It was clear that a lot had to change with Yakin and in his cooperation with the players in order to create the conditions for a successful tournament. This has also been achieved, if you look at the team and their coach now.

Contini’s share

There are said to have been many discussions with the leading players, especially with captain Granit Xhaka. Xhaka rode a wave of success with Leverkusen. He won the title under coach Xabi Alonso in the end, losing only in the Europa League final in 50 games, and he decided the German Cup final with his goal.

Yann Sommer was similarly successful with Inter Milan and Manuel Akanji with Manchester City. The Bologna trio Remo Freuler, Michel Aebischer and Dan Ndoye also celebrated great success by qualifying for the Champions League. Yakin probably felt that, in addition to more technical issues, he had to use the energy of his success for the work before the tournament. This included the changes to the staff with the new assistant Giorgio Contini, with whom Yakin complements himself perfectly. Now the sky is open, anything is possible.