"We hope we were able to make you happy"

When rising star Johan Manzambi was asked about his emotional tournament—he was named the best player of the match twice before having to sit out the last two games due to a bruised knee—he replied: “Unfortunately, I got injured, but my teammates still did well.” At that, one of the fans in the crowd shouted, “Good, but not very good.”

This was evident at the reception for the Swiss national team on Tuesday afternoon. Although the approximately 14,000-square-meter Turbinenplatz, located in one of Zurich’s liveliest neighborhoods, was quite full, and some people—even those traveling from far away—arrived early to secure the best possible spots near the stage, there was no sense of great euphoria. Compared to the reception for the Norwegians on Monday in Oslo, which drew around 90,000 fans, the reception in Zurich was modest—the Scandinavians, like the Swiss, had made national soccer history by advancing to the quarterfinals.

In any case, one got the impression that the reception was more of a formality. After the team landed right on time at around 10:15 a.m., they were taken by bus to a hotel near Turbinenplatz. Fifteen minutes late, at 12:16 p.m., the entire staff first appeared on stage.

"We'll take all those emotions with us"

First, SFV President Peter Knäbel addressed the crowd: “I’m incredibly proud of the staff here. We gave it our all in the U.S. and Canada—I think you all could feel that. We could tell that you, too, gave it your all, so a huge, huge round of applause for you as well. We’ll carry all these emotions with us as a responsibility for the future, in which we want to stay as good as we are—and maybe even a little better.”

Next, it was Murat Yakin’s turn to speak, and he said, among other things: “We would have liked to stay (in the U.S.) one more week, but of course it’s also nice to be able to come home like this.” We saw wonderful pictures of celebrations taking place all over Switzerland. It’s admirable that people got up at 3, 4, or 5 in the morning. It gave all of us goosebumps.”

Embolo Receives a Lot of Support

One by one, the players were called onto the stage in order of their jersey numbers. Along with Manzambi, Granit Xhaka, and Ruben Vargas, Breel Embolo also received a particularly warm round of applause. The Rennes forward received a yellow-red card in the quarterfinal against Argentina (1–3 in extra time) for a dive that could only be described as foolish—this came shortly after the Swiss had tied the score at 1–1 and the momentum was clearly on their side. Embolo had stepped off the plane with his hood pulled up over his cap; on stage, he was wearing only a cap, and he covered his eyes with sunglasses. A sign read: “Breel, we’re behind you—not just when you win. Thanks for your effort.” Three hearts were also drawn on it. These words of encouragement must have done him good.

Captain Granit Xhaka had the final word for the Swiss team: “It’s not something to be taken for granted that so many people are here; we really felt your support. Hopefully we were able to make you happy.” The Sunderland midfielder went on to say that while they didn’t have any big-name players, the team made up for it with plenty of team spirit and energy. “That’s what sets Switzerland apart. It’s hard to fully grasp what we’ve accomplished. We’ll probably do that during the break, when we slow down a bit. Overall, it was a good tournament. We can be proud of what we’ve accomplished. With a little luck, we could have gone even further, but that’s part of the game. We’ll accept it the way it turned out.”

Afterward, the entire team threw small soccer balls into the crowd before the players left the stage, shielded from the crowd, after a good 30 minutes. The team bus was waiting in front of the hotel. Now it’s time for their well-deserved vacation.