The second game of Euro2016 has seen Switzerland scrape past a ten-man Albania 1-0. As the game came to a close, Russian Federation continued to launch long balls into the box, and in stoppage time, Vasili Berezutski headed home the goal for Russian Federation, leaving England fans extremely bitter once again.
Advertisement
Making their major tournament debut, Albania will also be looking to defeat Switzerland for the first time in six attempts.
“By about the 20th minute we were back to normal but the damage was done”. We retreated and speculated too much.
Albania coach Gianni De Biasi will be anxious about the lack of wins over recognised opposition with their last big victory coming over hosts France last June. Incoming substitute Breel Embolo is rumoured to be on Jose Mourinho’s radar, he showed glimpses of his talent but struggled to find enough space to really influence the game. “We had to change our approach”. Eintracht Frankfurt striker Haris Seferovic extended his tepid form from the Bundesliga, spurning a couple of chances, including a mano-a-mano against Berisha in minute 65.
A silly goalkeeping mistake, a first-half sending off and failure to take simple chances cost them the chance to take at least a point from a match in which they more than held their own but eventually lost 1-0.
Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka doesn’t feel he needs to change his aggressive playing style after being lucky to escape a booking in his opening match for Switzerland at Euro 2016.
Watford have five players at the championships and Craig Cathcart is set to be the next one in action when Northern Ireland start their Group C campaign against Poland at 5pm tomorrow.
A full three points for the Alpine side, and only their second ever win in the European Championships.
Albania and Switzerland play out the second game of the competition and it will be a battle for the other knockout spots, with France more or less everybody’s unanimous choice to top the group.
Let’s be honest, even though Euro 2016 is still new and exciting, we doubt very many people will have organised their day around the Group A clash between Albania and Switzerland.
Advertisement
Switzerland had taken a fifth-minute lead through Fabian Schar’s header and when Lorik Cana was red carded just before the interval, Albania faced an uphill struggle to take anything away from the game.
