Northern Ireland v Switzerland 08SEPT

THE COACH: SWITZERLAND

For the first time in seven years Switzerland have a new man in charge after appointing Murat Yakin to lead the country last month. The 46-year-old was the national federation’s choice to replace Vladimir Petkovic, who left to take charge of Ligue 1 club Bordeaux after an impressive run in which he guided Switzerland to the knockout phase of two European Championships and a World Cup. His successor Yakin, a former central defender who starred for Stuttgart , Fenerbahce and Basel in his playing days, made 49 appearances for Switzerland between 1994 and 2004 and even captained his country. “The national team was already an affair of the heart for me as a player,” he said upon being hired. “It is a great honour and a pleasure for me to be able to represent our country as a coach. “I have no doubts that we will quality for the World Cup with this great team and that we will celebrate further successes.” Yakin, whose parents are from Turkey, has extensive experience as a head coach, having managed eight different clubs in his homeland as well as Russian club Spartak Moscow. He won successive league titles with Basel in the past decade. He vacated his job with Swiss second-tier side Schaffhausen – whom he led to a fourth-placed finish last season – to take the job with Switzerland. “Murat Yakin is a strong personality with extensive international experience as a player and coach,” said national team director Pierluigi Tami, who revealed the new man was the Swiss Federation board’s top candidate for the post . “He is a modern, young Swiss coach who has a clear idea of the game, great technical football skills and clear goals.”

WORDS: LIAM BLACKBURN

Unsurprisingly given Switzerland’s impressive run to the Euro 2020 quarter-finals he has named 23 players in his first squad who were part of the group at that tournament under Petkovic’s watch. The vast majority of Yakin’s chosen squad are under the age 30 too, suggesting the new man has arrived to take over a group that is yet to reach its peak. » Yakin is the elder brother of Hakan Yakin, a former striker who was capped 87 times and represented Switzerland at four major tournaments. » He led Thun to promotion to the top flight by winning the title in his first season in charge before guiding them into Europe in his second campaign. » In the 2012-13 season Yakin led a Basel side that included Yann Sommer, Fabian Schar and Mohamed Salah to the Europa League semi-finals after knocking out Tottenham Hotspur in the last eight . » A year later Basel beat Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea home and away in the Champions League and made it to the Europa League quarter-finals. » Yakin was linked with replacing Mauricio Pochettino at Southampton in 2014 but was eventually appointed as Spartak Moscow’s new boss instead.

IRISHFA.COM

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