The captain wants to shake up his team-mates

He has to be careful, says Xhaka in an interview with SRF immediately after the game in San Diego. "I'd like to say everything, but I'll keep it to myself for now." But the 33-year-old does let a few things slip. He finds his usual clear words: "We have to tighten the reins now, otherwise we'll be going home after three games. You can't play like that."

Xhaka particularly criticized the performance in training. In qualifying for the World Cup, the team proved that they could achieve a lot with intensive work. Now, however, the team has lost its way somewhat. "It's clear to me that if you work hard in training, you'll be rewarded on the pitch," says Xhaka, adding as a warning: "Unfortunately, that wasn't the case every day this week."

The team should not be lulled into a false sense of security. The group with Qatar, Bosnia and Canada may look "easy" at first glance, but there are no weak opponents at a World Cup. "We mustn't feel too secure. A performance like today is not enough. We have to see this as a wake-up call."

Reminder of earlier criticism

So far, the preparation has not gone as he had imagined, explains the Swiss record player with 146 appearances. The week in St. Gallen, during which the players gradually moved into camp, was dominated by sponsor and media appointments. This week, the story surrounding Breel Embolo's entry problems to the USA also provided a distraction. "Now we're finally all together and can start working properly today. We still have seven days in which we can and must improve."

However, Xhaka ended on a conciliatory note: "I'm not worried. I know that we will manage to refocus."

His words are strongly reminiscent of the incidents during the European Championship qualifiers in autumn 2023, when Xhaka criticized the training performance, which led to a discussion with coach Murat Yakin. Since then, however, the two have repeatedly demonstrated unity. Yakin likes to describe Xhaka as his most important contact for tactical issues on the pitch.

Yakin sees the team "on track"

The national team coach reacted with slight irritation to his captain's statements, which were roughly summarized for him in the TV interview. "I'll have to discuss that with him in private later."

Yakin himself initially emphasized the positive aspects: the strong start and the fact that nobody got injured. "We could have been more efficient," he says, looking at the negative aspects. "We built up our opponents a bit with a lot of misplaced passes and technical errors." Overall, however, the 51-year-old believes his team is "on track". Now it's time to analyze the game carefully.

Anger for the captain, calm for the national team coach: the differing assessments provide food for thought shortly before the start of the World Cup.