Gregor Kobel joined the national team on Monday with a new status. The 26-year-old from Zurich is Switzerland's new number 1 goalkeeper and therefore the focus of all fans.
"I wish I had taken a photo," says goalkeeping coach Patrick Foletti when he talks about the moment Gregor Kobel was told by him and Murat Yakin that he would be Switzerland's number one goalkeeper. "He was beaming like a cockchafer."
More than seven years ago, Kobel received his first call-up for the senior national team. As he has done so often since then, he watched the international match against Belarus from the sidelines in June 2017. He has only played just 450 minutes in the last seven years as Yann Sommer's backup.
Murat Yakin is aware that it was a difficult time for Kobel. The extent to which the Dortmund keeper suffered from the hierarchy was most evident last winter, when his advisor Philipp Degen publicly criticized the fact that the national team staff had decided on Sommer as number one for the European Championship early on.
A few months later, Kobel made his debut as the Swiss national team's starting goalkeeper on Monday in Basel. Yann Sommer had announced his retirement from the national team two weeks earlier, probably also because he knew that the time to replace him was approaching. "The timing is right," said both Yakin and Foletti about both events.
The best in the Bundesliga
One of the peculiarities of the job is that a goalkeeper with little international experience becomes the central figure of a national team. It was the same with Diego Benaglio and Yann Sommer, both of whom had only played a handful of games for Switzerland before becoming number one.
Nevertheless, Kobel's call-up in Copenhagen on Thursday will not be a leap into the unknown - neither for the goalkeeper nor for the coaches. The five-time international reached the Champions League final with Dortmund last season, has previously played for Hoffenheim, Augsburg and Stuttgart in the Bundesliga and has steadily become "one of the best goalkeepers in the world" (Murat Yakin) since his junior days at GC.
In a league where there is no shortage of strong goalkeepers, Kobel has been voted the best in his position by the specialist magazine "Kicker" in each of the last two years. He has that aura that Foletti emphasizes. Kobel has influence on three levels that are important to the coach: on his own team, on the opponent and on the stadium. He is someone who can decisively change a game thanks to his qualities, his overall package. His teammates, opponents and spectators know that.
"What he does is huge"
The influence he can exert on the game is hard-earned. "I've invested a lot, ever since I was a child," Kobel told the Keystone-SDA news agency in an interview a few weeks ago. "What he does is tremendous," confirms Foletti, who has known Kobel since he was eleven. "He works on his weak points every day. He's a huge professional."
It is clear from Foletti and Yakin's conversations that they do not expect Switzerland to be weaker in the goalkeeping position than in recent years. On the contrary: despite all the appreciation for the departed, a little more seems to be expected from the newcomer. Of course, no comparisons are being made. The only specific strength of Kobel that Foletti emphasizes concerns long balls, which Dortmund's keeper is good at.
Stay relaxed
Yakin's hymn of praise for Kobel is interspersed with only two small, almost overheard concerns. One: "We hope he stays healthy." In the last two seasons, Kobel has missed 25 games due to quickly overcome physical ailments, mostly muscle injuries.
Secondly: "We hope he doesn't stiffen up too much." Expectations of Kobel are high, the footsteps of Yann Sommer are large and the drop as Swiss national keeper is considerable. With Jonas Omlin and Yvon Mvogo, two experienced replacement keepers have been placed at his side to create the best conditions for Kobel to reach what Foletti calls the fourth level as quickly as possible: the impact on the whole nation.
SDA
