Switzerland opened their Euro 2016 campaign on Saturday with a 1-0 win over Albania but coach Vladimir Petkovic bemoaned his side’s inability to kill off their opponents after they were reduced to 10 men.
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That was to be the last big chance of the game with Switzerland able to hold on for a precious victory as a valiant Albania walk away from their first Euro game empty handed.
Switzerland, playing in their fourth European Championships, are seeking to reach the knock-out phase for the first time.
The Zurich-born forward’s chance to write the flawless ending to this most contemporary of European football match-ups had gone, and so had Albania’s opportunity to take a deserved point from an encounter that had seemed sure to get away from them.
Switzerland next meet Romania on Wednesday in Paris, while Albania try their luck against hosts France in Marseilles.
Schar capitalised on poor goalkeeping by Etrit Berisha to nod in from Xherdan Shaqiri’s corner.
The six-foot-one defender also scored the only goal of the match to give his country the win. Albania still in it, despite having played half an hour with a one-man disadvantage. “What I said to the players can be very important for the coming days”, he said.
There were 27 fouls in the game, and Albania’s captain, Lorik Cana, was sent off in the 36th minute after his second yellow card.
“After the war in the 1990s in Yugoslavia and Kosovo we received many people from Albania and Kosovo – the majority of Swiss people accepted them”, added Meury.
Switzerland certainly won most of their individual battles and one jumped out more sharply than most.
The Xhaka brothers were cheered on by their mother, who wore a hybrid Switzerland-Albania shirt seated alongside Granit’s fiancee Leonita Lekaj, predictably decked out in a Swiss No. 10 shirt.
“We needed a good start and that didn’t happen”, De Biasi said at his post-match press conference.
Switzerland hit the woodwork through Blerim Dzemaili from the resulting free-kick but entered half-time with the game firmly in their grasp.
Albania tried through Xhaka (Taulant), but his 26th minute effort went high.
Berisha’s error was perhaps an indicator of some butterflies flying through the Albania camp, somewhat understandably so in a maiden major tournament.
However, whatever work they’ve done doesn’t appear to be working and the side conceded once again from a set-piece against Sweden in their final friendly before Euro 2016.
The 27-year-old Gashi, making his 14th appearance in an Albania jersey, beat the offside trap with a cross-field run that left him 1-on-1 against the Swiss goalkeeper, Yann Sommer.
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Both midfielders started in the second match of the European Championship at Stade Bollaert-Delelis in Lens.
