A pact at the basis of the exploits of Yakin’s Switzerland. And the arrival of an ‘Italian’: the story

There is a story that comes from Swiss and it can be a lesson for Luciano Spalletti’s Italy: Yakin’s national team that came close to winning Group A ahead of Germany is the result of a pact between the coach and his captain. This is what he told TuttoMercatoWeb.com Miguel Angel Aquisojournalist from ‘SRG SSR’, the Swiss public television: “Italy must be careful, Switzerland is a solid team at the moment”.

Thanks to the move to a three-man defence?
“Because Xhaka demanded it, when in the autumn they drew with Kosovo and lost in Romania they understood that they could no longer continue in that way: thank goodness they were already qualified because they played those two matches in a horrendous way. reviewed at the beginning of the Spring and they agreed on this transition from the back four to the back three. Before that, there was another person who strongly contributed to the change in Switzerland…”

Who is it about?
“His name is Giorgio Contini. After the November matches Yakin went looking for a new number two and took Contini who prepares the offensive phase, while Yakin concentrates on the defensive one. Contini is Italian, he was born in Switzerland but to a mother and Italian father. He is 100% Italian, even though he has collected a shirt with Switzerland. He speaks three languages, he can communicate with everyone and this makes it easier for you to communicate with the press and especially with the players he changed the Swiss dynamics, he arrived at the start of the new year and is very good for this team. And then, in fact, the meeting between Xhaka and Yakin who agreed on the move to a three-man defence.”

In Italy there has been great controversy over the term ‘pact’, it is not a term that Spalletti sees favorably…
“For Switzerland, reaching an agreement was the best possible thing, without it we would probably have been out. And then Xhaka is happy and he, being the leader and the most important player, determines the fate of this national team.”

Besides Xhaka, what characterizes Yakin’s Switzerland today?
“Great intensity in all phases of the game. They understood that physically they are there even in difficult situations and then they go fast up front with Ndoye and Vargas. Furthermore, Yakin guessed at a couple of choices in terms of men which immediately proved decisive: the first match he started Duah and he immediately scored. Aebischer wasn’t a starter, he was started on the left and immediately became an irremovable starter. They found a perfect balance.”