No points at the bottom of the table – Poor national team performance: Serbia beat Switzerland 2-0 – Sport

• The Swiss national team lost 2-0 against Serbia in the Nations League after a poor performance.
• Nico Elvedi scored an own goal shortly before half-time, Aleksandar Mitrovic (61′) made the decision.
• Murat Yakin’s team are still at the bottom of the table with no points after 3 games.

A scene in the 72nd minute was indicative of a poor Swiss performance. After a Dan Ndoye goal was pushed forward, referee Simone Sozza immediately pointed to the spot at 0-2, giving the departing Swiss fans hope as well as a turnaround. Breel Embolo went for the penalty, but Predrag Rajkovic missed his poorly taken and misplaced effort in the Serbian goal.

4 minutes later, the Swiss representative was again unfortunate when he blocked his substitute Andi Zeqiri. As a result, Switzerland could no longer respond to the deficit and, as in the last edition, they are without a point after 3 games in the League of Nations.

Slow start from the Serbs

In the initial phase, there was not much that showed the success of Serbia. The home team were very passive and allowed the Swiss to play far into their own half of the pitch. However, the national team did not know what to do with possession, which was at times over 80 percent in the opening quarter, and had no chance to score.

As the game progressed, it looked like the home side were getting more and more ahead. In front of 8,000 fans in Leskovac, Strahinja Pavlovic and Veljko Birmancevic in particular caused danger on the left wing. This paid off in stoppage time in the first half. After a foul on Pavlovic, Lazar Samardzic took the free kick into the centre, where Nico Elvedi cleared the slightly deflected cross into his own goal.

Embolo’s equalizer was disallowed

Embolo had the best Swiss chance before the break. The 27-year-old pushed the ball past the left post from 11 meters in the 32nd minute after great work from Zeki Amdouni and Silvan Widmer. Otherwise, the Swiss remained pale in the danger zone despite their height in the field for long stretches.

After the break, Switzerland didn’t seem more alert and Gregor Kobel had to intervene again less than 2 minutes after the restart. Manuel Akanji was the last man to lose the ball, but the Swiss goalkeeper saved the national team from 0-2 thanks to a save against half-time substitute Luka Jovic.

7 turnovers later, the Swiss were happy for the equaliser, but the celebration quickly died down. Embolo scored after Ndoye’s shot was parried. However, Bologna’s wing was straight up when the cross was passed.

Mitrovic with the decision

Aleksandar Mitrovic made the decision on the other side in the 61st minute. The 30-year-old ran a ball down the touchline, moved into the middle and hit the right angle in a spectacular fashion. Akanji was only with the Serbian striker.

Thanks to the trio, the Serbians left Switzerland 4 points behind and took third place in the table. In the final of the group, Spain beat Denmark 1-0 and the Vikings took the lead. Martin Zubimendi scored the only goal in Murcia in the 79th minute.

This is how it continues

The Swiss national team will continue on Tuesday. Murat Yakin’s team, who urgently need points, welcome the Danes in St. Gallen looking to avenge the 0-2 defeat a month ago. Serbia are visiting Spain at the same time as they look to take points from the European champions, as they did in the 0-0 draw in the first leg.