Four Borussia boys featured for Switzerland in an important World Cup qualifying victory on Saturday night. Breel Embolo, Yann Sommer, Denis Zakaria and Nico Elvedi enjoyed a 2-0 win against Northern Ireland, keeping them hot on the heels of Group C leaders Italy.
In his third game in charge, national team head coach Murat Yakin, who once played in the Bundesliga for VfB Stuttgart and 1. FC Kaiserslautern, named all four Borussia players in his starting XI. Yann Sommer in goal, Nico Elvedi alongside Dortmund’s Manuel Akanji at centre-back, Denis Zakaria started at centre-mid next to Remo Freuler while Breel Embolo played as a centre-forward in a front three.
Zakaria’s goal ruled out
Denis Zakaria set the tone after just five minutes, smashing home a rebound for what looked like the opener, but VAR intervened and disallowed the goal due to Xherdan Shaqiri obstructing the goalkeeper’s vision while in an offside position.
The 19,000 or so spectators at the Stade de Genève witnessed a very one-sided encounter from that moment on, with Switzerland dominating Northern Ireland and moving the ball around almost at will, albeit without creating any dangerous chances. Only after Jamal Lewis’s dismissal following a second yellow-card offence did Switzerland’s quality in the final third improve. Deep into first-half stoppage time, Breel Embolo set up Steven Zuber on the counterattack to give them a deserved lead.
Embolo sets up another
Not much changed after the restart, as the Swiss pushed for a second goal with only the Northern Ireland goalkeeper or their own lack of composure standing in the way. At the other end, Yann Sommer had a quiet evening with just the two shots on goal from Northern Ireland. Having missed two chances to double his team’s lead in the 55th and 87th minute, Borussia’s Breel Embolo went on to set up another goal in stoppage time – Christian Fassnacht the scorer. "Nobody is more annoyed about the missed chances than me, but I’m on the pitch for the team to win and I managed to get two assists today at least," said Embolo after the game.
On Tuesday night, Switzerland are in action against Lithuania.
