Switzerland has reached the quarter-finals of the European Championship and Murat Yakin, who was criticized last autumn, is once again being celebrated as a tactician. But assistant coach Giorgio Contini also played a big part in the success.
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- Nati coach Murat Yakin is celebrated for his courageous decisions after reaching the quarter-finals.
- Assistant coach Giorgio Contini also played a big part in the success. Although Yakin doesn't like the word "assistant" and prefers to call him "partner".
- The players also have nothing but good things to say about the 50-year-old linguistic talent.
Last fall, there was a sense of doom and gloom after a winning streak in the European Championship qualifiers. Since then, however, things have changed for the better. The strained relationship between Murat Yakin and Granit Xhaka threatened to become a major problem at the time. After a few meetings, however, the dust has long since settled - the two men of character are now definitely pulling in the same direction. When asked about Yakin, you only hear good things from the national team captain.
The appointment of assistant coach Giorgio Contini, who succeeded Vincent Cavin at the end of last year, was also a smart and important move. Yakin and Contini already knew each other from their time together at FC Luzern in the 2011/12 season, and Yakin recently underlined Contini's importance at a press conference: "We didn't just want to change the style of play, we also wanted to make some adjustments to the staff. So that we are also very efficient in training. I wanted a person I could trust blindly. I thought about Contini early on. I don't see him as an assistant, but as my partner. He is a stroke of luck for us."
It is important to both Yakin and Contini that they meet as equals. The intensive exchange has also led to the courageous decisions that have been crowned with success so far. The two seem to harmonize perfectly and complement each other perfectly. Contini has already taken on responsibility in the training sessions and has given loud instructions with the self-confidence of a head coach, which he was for several years.
Contini is an open guy who likes to approach people and radiates a lot of positive energy. Since, unlike Yakin, he is a real linguistic talent, he can also easily take over communication with the French-speaking players. As a former striker, his focus is on offense - in this respect, too, the two complement each other perfectly.
Even after the first training sessions in March, the players were full of praise for Contini. "He has a great connection with us players and is a great motivator. I didn't know him before, but now I'm very happy that he's with us," said Silvan Widmer, for example. And Remo Freuler emphasized: "You can tell that he was already head coach." Even three or four months later, we are only hearing good things. When asked about Contini on Wednesday, Kwadwo Duah said: "He has a very, very big influence. You certainly listen to him, because everything he says has substance."
