Switzerland has kept its chance of making it into the round of 16 of the European Football Championship. In the “all or nothing” game against Turkey, the Swiss won 3-1 (2-0) on Sunday. Haris Seferovic (6th) with an early goal and Xherdan Shaqiri (26th, 68th) with a brace scored in Baku for the third-placed Swiss in Group A. Irfan Can Kahveci (62nd) only managed the interim goal for Turkey.
The again disappointing Turks left the tournament with zero points and 1: 8 goals. Senol Günes faces an uncertain future as team boss. In Switzerland, coach Vladimir Petkovic can hope again. His team, which is now holding four points, even failed to polish up their goal account (now minus 1) with a view to the race of the four best thirds in the group. A draw against Ukraine on Monday would be enough for Austria to stay third in Group C at least ahead of Switzerland.
Both teams, who were heavily criticized at home, had only one victory in Baku before kick-off to keep the chance of making the leap into the knockout phase. Turkey made a lightning start. The Günes-Elf attacked briskly, Yann Sommer in the Swiss goal had to make himself after a shot by Kaan Ayhan in the 4th minute. The efforts were suddenly interrupted. From the first attack, the “Nati” took the lead: Seferovic pulled from 17 meters, through Merih Demiral’s legs, the placed finish hit the case.
The Turkish vigor had died down. Switzerland, where the hair color of captain Granit Xhaka and Manuel Akanji recently caused as much dust as the athletic performance, acted cautiously, let the unsettled opponent run and quickly scored the 2-0. Shaqiri found a place in the center of the penalty area and hit the crossbar. The Liverpool attacker had the next goal two minutes later. Almost from the center line, Shaqiri pulled alone towards Ugurcan Cakir, the Turkish goalkeeper saved his team with a foot defense.
One of the Turks’ assets was ex-Rapidler Mert Müldür. The 22-year-old left-back wrestled a save from Sommer and had the best opportunity for the Turks in the first half after a solo run across half the field two minutes before the break.
The idea of the Turks, however, was far too error-prone to bring Switzerland into trouble. Cakir prevented worse in the second half. Out of nowhere, Xhaka and Co. even caught the next goal: Kahveci hit just as nicely with his left into the cross corner after one of the few actions presented. For the Swiss it should only be a short fear. Shaqiri forcefully completed a counter-attack. Xhaka then heaved a free kick against the bar (77th). Müldür also failed again in the finish after a corner kick by Sommer.
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