Xhaka shirt controversy overshadows Swiss win

Mitrovic 26, Vlahovic 35

There was always a chance it could come down to something Granit Xhaka might do and in the closing stages this game, aflame with Balkan tensions, felt like it might tip into violence as the Arsenal midfielder clashed with Fulham’s Serbia striker, Aleksandar Mitrovic,

Eventually they were pulled apart although perhaps the Argentine referee did not see everything that was said or done in the last minutes of a win for Switzerland that secured second spot on Group G and a second-round tie with Portugal on Tuesday. It left Serbia bottom of the group.

In the second half, there was a warning from the Stadium 974 announcer that “all discriminatory chants and gestures” should cease. The allegation was that it referred to the Serb fans’ offensive songs about Kosovans, as well as a threefingered gesture which is intended to provoke. Dragan Stojkovic, the Serbia manager, would later say he had heard nothing from the fans.

The Serb bench cleared when Mitrovic was denied, correctly, a second-half penalty. Stojkovic was caught by the cameras saying something alleged to be offensive. Xhaka, the Kosovan-heritage Switzerland captain, grabbed his crotch in provocation. Whether that is political or just plain obscenity was a matter to pick over afterwards.

Xhaka, Fifa’s man of the match, had decided to ignore the arguments. “It is a game with a lot of emotion. That’s football. It was fair enough. We wanted to focus on football.” That was it. His manager, Murat Yakin, saw even less.

On the pitch at the end, Xhaka had put on a shirt bearing the name “Jashiri”. He said it was in support of his Swiss team-mate Ardon Jashiri, 20. Ardem Jashiri was one of the founders of the Kosovan Liberation Army, a Kosovan hero who

was killed in 1998 after a three-day siege of his home by Yugoslav military. Xhaka said it referred only to Ardon and not Ardem. Either way, Xhaka and Mitrovic were hard to separate in the closing stages.

There was anger and recriminations. It had started with Nikola Milenkovic going head-to-head with Xhaka. More Serbs piled in. Players from both sides grappled and argued deep into injury time. The referee, Fernando Andres Rapallini, was barely in control. Serbia could see the end coming and once again it was Switzerland inflicting defeat at a World Cup.

Switzerland had taken the lead in the first half, thrown it away and then won the game with a secondhalf goal from Nottingham Forest midfielder Remo Freuler. For the nine minutes they were behind, Switzerland were heading out the tournament.

Serbia had looked dangerous in the first half, yet they never truly created the chances that might be expected at 3-2 down for most of the second half.

There was a strong political undercurrent when, inevitably, Xherdan Shaqiri tucked one in at the near post after 20 minutes. None of the interlocking thumbs and fluttering fingers of his Kosovo

flag-inspired celebration that so inflamed the game against Serbia at the last World Cup in 2018. Shaqiri, the Swiss team’s other famous Kosovan heritage player, did not entirely leave it alone though, cupping his ears to the Serbia fans. Then, as he ran away, he jabbed his thumbs at the name on his back.

The equaliser was a glorious header from Mitrovic. A Serb second goal came soon after from Juventus’s Dusan Vlahovic. Xhaka had got a foot to the ball but Vlahovic spun on it and wrongfooted goalkeeper Gregor Kobel with the angle of his shot.

Just before half-time a fine equaliser from Switzerland. A tidy finish from Breel Embolo and Serbia were wide open down their left from where Sylvain Widmer crossed.

Freuler got what was the winner three minutes after half-time from the lay-off from Vargas.

“My team said they wanted to make history,” Yakin said. “We deserved to win.”