Three points at the start: Mandatory 3-1 victory for the Swiss team against Bulgaria

Thanks to a good first half, Switzerland began their qualification for the World Cup with a secure 3-1 victory in Bulgaria. Breel Embolo, Haris Seferovic and Xherdan Shaqiri scored the goals of success in the opening quarter hour.

▶ This is how the other teams played
▶ Nati’s coach, Petkovic, with mixed feelings after the initial victory: first “impressive”, then “scared”
▶ “It shouldn’t happen to us” – Xhaka & Co. are not entirely satisfied despite their early win

With the first victory after seven games and since November 2019, Switzerland has half met the goal set by national coach Vladimir Petkovic for the opening phase of the World Cup qualification. On Sunday, the mandatory second victory against Lithuania in St. Gallen is required to travel to the final of the European Championship in June with calm and good feelings and to relieve the pressure on Italy before the first duel with the favorites of the group in the world . Cup qualifiers in early September remain in position

“Play forward calmly, confidently and joyfully.” Vladimir Petkovic asked his team to do this the day before the game. And he had also expressed a wish: “Score a quick goal.” The coach had in mind the perfect course of the night. But things got even better in the game. Less than a quarter of an hour passed before the Swiss took a 3-0 lead. In just six minutes, Breel Embolo headed (7th), Haris Seferovic with a low shot (10th) and Xherdan Shaqiri at the near post after teamwork with Kevin Mbabu scored all three goals for an early, reassuring lead. and of course decisive. .

Record: 3-0 after 13 minutes

The prelude to qualifying for the World Cup in Sofia became the Swiss record game from the start. There had never been three goals in such a short time: the record of three goals in eight minutes of the legendary World Cup quarter-finals against Austria in 1954 was broken. And there had not been a 3-0 lead at such a stage either. early. The previous record came in 2009, when Switzerland, led by Ottmar Hitzfeld, led 3-0 in Luxembourg after 22 minutes.

The Swiss showed a very good performance until the break, despite the weak resistance of the limited rival. They stayed focused even with the clear advantage on their backs and thus played on their technical and tactical superiority. In the first half, the Swiss had almost 80 percent possession of the ball. They did not leave the rival without time to recover and never ran the risk of conceding a goal. The difference of 52 places in the FIFA ranking was visible between the two teams every second.

But the Bulgarians did not want this game to degenerate into a Swiss training monologue. Just seconds after the restart, Bulgarian series champion Ludogorez Rasgrad’s Kiril Despodov used an error by Remo Freuler to defeat Yann Sommer with a low shot to make it 3-1.

It was the beginning of a phase in which the Swiss no longer had control over the game and their opponents. He was lucky that, after just over an hour, Yann Sommer was able to deflect a header from captain Georgi Kostadinov to extremis in the corner. The game was not at the point where it could tip over. But from a Swiss perspective, it was better not to imagine what would have happened in the stadium if the Vasil Levski Arena had not been deserted, but filled with 30,000 Bulgarian fans.

In the end, it was enough for the Swiss to get the three points they wanted without much trembling. But as much as they are praised for their performance in the first half, they must be criticized for what they showed after the break. He did not fit in with the demands of this team that formed a rival that had only won two of the last 22 international matches and ran the latent risk of making the match exciting again with a second goal.

Bulgaria – Switzerland 1: 3 (0: 3)

Vasil-Levski-Nationalstadion. – No show. – SR Dabanovic (MNE). – Tower: 7. Embolo (Rodríguez) 0: 1. 10. Seferovic (Shaqiri) 0: 2. 13. Shaqiri 0: 3. 46. Despodov 1: 3.

Bulgaria: Plamen Iliev; Popov, Dimov, Boschikov, Sanev, Cicinho (70. Zvetanov); Malinov (70. Chotschev), Kostadinov; Yomov (70. Ilian Iliev), Despodov (48. Delev); Dimitar Iliev (46. Atanas Iliev).

Schweiz: Sommer; Elvedi, Akanji, Rodríguez; Mbabu, Freuler (86. Sow), Xhaka, Zuber (75. Zakaria); Shaqiri (75. Vargas); Embolo (90. Mehmedi), Seferovic (86. Gavranovic).

Comments: Bulgaria without Galabinov (injured), Switzerland without Schär, Steffen and Omeragic (all injured). Warnings: 54. Akanji (foul). 69. Cicinho (foul).