Romania vs Switzerland report: Admir Mehmedi's spectacular strike hands Swiss vital point in Group A

Romania 1 Switzerland 1

The benefit to Switzerland of the 24-team tournament is obvious. They are almost assured of qualification to the last-16 already, having picked up their fourth point today at the Parc des Princes with a 1-1 draw against a feisty but limited Romania side. That gives them Sunday’s match against France as another chance to gel, with less pressure on it, before their match in the next round.

But what is even clearer is that they need to improve, and fast, if they are not going to be sent home by the first good team they face. Because for all their individual quality this is not yet a well-functioning unit. Switzerland have a good midfield, anchored by Granit Xhaka, authoritative and intelligent, the best player on the pitch.

But he alone cannot make up for serious issues of inefficiency and concentration in both penalty boxes, not least the conceding of a careless penalty by Stephan Lichtsteiner in the first half.

Aside from conceding that goal, there was very little to distinguish this performance from Switzerland’s opening 1-0 defeat of Albania. They created some chances, but did not take them, owing to the fact that they do not have an effective centre-forward. Haris Seferovic could have killed the game in the first few minutes but he did not and it took the late addition to Breel Embolo to inject any dynamism.

Admir Mehmedi volleyed home a second half equaliser but it was just Swizterland’s second goal from two games in which they have dominated possession. Both of those goals were from corners. There has to be more to come from the Swiss if they are to do anything here, escaping the group phase is not enough. And it has to start with converting the chances that they create.

That was the story of the opening stages of the match. It began after six minutes when Seferovic received a clever pass through from Blerim Dzemaili and took an excellent first touch, shifting inside Vlad Chiriches. The finish was on his right foot but he got the angle wrong and the ball flew wide. His next chance saw him slid through by Xherdan Shaqiri, only to poke the ball meekly at Ciprian Tatarusanu.

Xhaka was not impressed with his team-mates’ finishing when he spoke to the media afterwards. “We had so many chances but we just could not finish,” he said. “We will not create eight good chances against France. We have to start scoring, it is the last wheel in our system.”


 Stanchu celebrates his opener from the spot 
 (Getty Images)

Swiss coach Vladimir Petkovic said afterwards that he needs his team to continue creating chances, in the hope that they start taking them. “‘We have to continue to create chances,” he said. “During the next game against France we will have to do better again. We had a difficult start against Albania, when our heads were not free, but today we showed we can do better.”

When Switzerland played Albania they showed this clumsy inefficiency in both boxes and were not punished for it. Here, though, against cannier opposition, they were. Romania should have been 2-0 down early on but in fact spent most of the first half 1-0 up.

Stephan Lichtsteiner is a good full-back and captain but he has the same liberal interpretation of the rules that would be expected from someone who has been a permanent presence in the Juventus defence for the last five years. He will do whatever it takes to stop you. This should have cost the Swiss a penalty kick last Saturday but this time Russian referee Sergei Karasev was attuned to it. “If you whistle for that,” said Petkovic, “then you will have a lot of penalties.”

Bogdan Stancu scored the penalty kick, just as he did against France. He shaped to put it to Yann Sommer’s left but instead dragged the ball to his right. Switzerland’s response to this was panic and only good fortune stopped Romania from doubling their lead, which would have been remarkable given the balance of play.

But Lichtsteiner allowed himself to be beaten far too easily when Alexandru Chipciu ran onto a diagonal ball, and Chipciu cut back inside only to flash his shot just wide of the far post. Then Gabriel Torje curled a long free-kick into the box, the Swiss defence froze and Cristian Sapunaru hit the post.

When Dzemaili closed the first half by missing the easiest headed chance of the tournament so far, it felt like proof of the worrying softness of this Swiss team.

Even when the second half began Switzerland were still asleep and Johan Djourou had to make a crucial intervention to stop Claudi Keseru from converting Gabriel Torje’s cross at the near post.

With the lead Romania had even less incentive to come out and play, and they spent most of the second half sat back in their own half waiting for openings on the break. Switzerland could not get through their block, but the equaliser eventually came from a corner, how they scored their only goal against Albania.

Ricardo Rodriguez’s corner was headed out at the near post and it feel in space to Admir Mehmedi. Rather than controlling the ball, Mehmedi volleyed it as hard as he could with his left-foot, thundering the ball beyond Tatarusanu into the far top corner of the net.


 Rodriguez and Torje battle for possession 
 (Getty Images)

Switzerland needed to win and they showed ambition bringing the gifted Breel Embolo on for Seferovic. He was a dynamic threat in behind, and worried the Romanian defenders, but headed his only chance wide from Lichtsteiner’s cross. The Swiss players walked off at the end knowing that last-16 football is almost certain, even if they will have to improve when they get there.

Romania, too, can still make the next round although they will have to beat Albania in Lyon on Sunday night. They are feisty, tenacious and aggressive, even if they are technically limited. Leaving their best player Nicolae Stanciu on the bench appeared to make little sense but they did create enough chances to win the game.

“We played two completely opposite halves,” said veteran coach Anghel Iordanescu. “We had two great chances in the first half, in the second half we faced huge pressure. We know that with one point we still have a good chance to go through by beating Albania.”

Teams

Romania (4-2-3-1): Tatarusanu; Sapunaru, Chiriches, Grigore, Rat; Prepelita, Pintilii (Hoban, 45); Torje, Stancu (Andone, 83), Chipciu; Keseru

Switzerland (4-2-3-1): Sommer; Lichtsteiner, Schar, Djourou, Rodriguez; Behrami, Xhaka; Shaqiri, Dzemaili (Lang, 83), Mehmedi; Seferovic (Embolo, 64)

Rating: 4

Man of the match: Xhaka