The match in Lens is likely to see Granit and his older brother Taulant become the first siblings to line up against each other at a European Championship.
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Gianni De Biasi’s side, playing in their first ever global tournament, starts with Lazio goalkeeper Etrit Berisha in between the sticks, while former Sunderland defender Lorik Cana captains the nation.
Switzerland were off to the better start as a sweet strike from Shaqiri whips in the corner, and is headed in by Hoffenheim defender Schar (9′).
After sitting out the 2012 tournament (they failed to qualify), the boys in red and white are back on the European stage and boasting talent born in countries including Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire and Kosovo.
Switzerland accepted tens of thousands of Kosovar Albanians who fled the Balkan wars in the 1990s following the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.
Albania captain Lorik Cana, who was sent off in the first half, said there had once been a possibility of both brothers playing for Albania. But while they gave Switzerland a tough game in their 1-0 loss, they never had a real chance to snag points thanks to an bad red card by their captain.
Minutes before half-time Albania win a corner, but the ball lands safely in the hand’s of Switzerland’s keeper Sommer.
Despite being a man light Albania pressed for an equaliser, while Berisha tried to make amends for his costly error by making a string of saves from Haris Seferovic. After that you need to have a bit of luck with the draw, but I think with the team we have, we should be able to make it to the quarter-finals.
The match pitches Albania’s defence, which conceded just five goals in its eight qualifying games, against one of the qualifying round’s most attacking sides.
The Swiss continued to create chances, however, and Seferovic forced an identical save to his first-half chance, before spurning an even better opportunity when one-on-one with Berisha, the referee having allowed play to continue as Lenjani lay sprawled on the grass.
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Moments later, Dzemaili went close again when curling the ball just past the post from Stephan Lichtsteiner’s cutback, while Seferovic forced a good save out of Berisha from the left side of the box. That win came after the Swiss side had already been knocked out of Euro 2008.
