Nightmare for Fabian Schar


 
 
 
 
 
 

A bit of a nightmare for Fabian Schar in Cologne.

The Newcastle United defender starting for Switzerland in their second Euros group match on Wednesday night.

The Swiss knowing a win would guarantee them progress alongside Germany from Group A.

Predictably, Scotland went for a fast start to the game after their hammering by Germany and their high energy beginning paid off.

On the break, it ended with a Scott McTominay shot and Fabian Schar in trying to clear, instead experienced the nightmare of deflecting the ball past his keeper Sommer, who would almost certainly have saved the shot which was pretty much straight at him.

To their credit though, Switzerland and Fabian Schar bounced back from that 13th minute blow and played pretty much all the quality football that was on show last night. Scotland putting plenty of effort in but surely they are the most limited of all the 24 teams competing in terms of ability/quality, certainly from what I have seen.

On 26 minutes, Shaqiri put Switzerland level with a sublime left foot top corner finish after a shocking attempted backpass from Ralston.

The Swiss playing some nice football at times as the equaliser settled them down and could/should have went on to win the match. Fabian Schar recovering from that early nightmare to have another decent game against a very physical Scotland team, plus some class long passes out of defence, as we are so used to at St James’ Park.

Scotland did have the odd moment and Grant Hanley struck the post with a header, but Switzerland wasting plenty of opportunities and Scotland saved twice by VAR when fine margins went against the Swiss.

Germany secured their progress earlier on Wednesday with a 2-0 win over Hungary and the final group matches are on Sunday.

Switzerland know that avoiding defeat against Germany will guarantee them progress but even a defeat would surely see them progress on four points, either by finishing second in the group, or as one of the four best teams to finish third in the six groups.

The Scotland v Hungary match should be a cracker, certainly in terms of effort, as a win for Scotland would very likely guarantee their progress, most likely as one of the best third place teams. Whilst not impossible for Hungary to progress either if they get a good win, with only two of the six teams who finish third in their groups getting eliminated.

Final score:

Switzerland 1 Scotland 1

Switzerland team v Scotland:

Sommer, Rodríguez, Akanji, Schar, Aebischer, Xhaka, Freuler (Sierro 75), Widmer (Stergiou 86), Vargas (Rieder 75), Shaqiri (Embolo 60), Ndoye (Amdouni 86)

Scotland team:

Gunn, Tierney (McKenna 61), Hanley, Hendry, Robertson, McGregor, Gilmour (McClean 79), Ralston, McTominay, McGinn (Christie 90), Adams (Shankland 91)

Newcastle United players on international duty:

Saturday 15 June

Switzerland 3 Hungary 1 (Euros Group match)

The Newcastle United defender with a very good personal performance, playing the full 90 minutes as the Swiss deservedly beat Hungary.

Sunday 16 June

England 1 Serbia 0 (Euros Group match)

England got the job done, eventually.

Anthony Gordon an unused substitute but Kieran Trippier playing the full 90 minutes and doing ok at left-back. His job to stretch things in attack up England’s left hand side, with likes of Foden not willing/able to stay out wide and instead continually drifting inside. With the plan clearly for all of England’s main attacking to be through the middle and especially out wide on the right.

That is where the excellent winning goal came from, a great ball from Walker putting Saka in behind and his deflected cross perfectly then flighted for Bellingham’s pinpoint run into the box and the header giving Serbia’s keeper no chance.

At the other end was Trippier’s main task though and with the rest of the defence he did well, especially after the break when England suddenly went all defensive and invited Serbia to go for the equaliser. The Three Lions offering zero threat in the second-half apart from sub Bowen’s cross where the keeper made a great save but in reality Kane should have given him zero chance with the header.

Pickford only had one shot on target to save all game and whilst the commentator and pundits raved about it, in reality it was from outside the box and straight at him, the England keeper tipping the ball over the bar.

The highlight of Trippier’s performance was when Serbia got into the box on the left and an equaliser beckoned for Serbia with Mitrovic waiting for the ball to be squared for a tap-in. However, the Newcastle defender covering his central defenders had got across and was too strong for Mitro who was sent sprawling  and claiming for a forlorn penalty.

Monday 17 June

Slovakia 1 Belgium 0 (Euros Group match)

Martin Dubravka and his Slovakia teammates pulling off a massive shock, third ranked in the world Belgium beaten by a team ranked 48th.

Schranz scoring after only seven minutes and the Newcastle keeper and his international teammates more than matching Belgium. What a victory.

Wednesday 19 June

Switzerland 1 Scotland 1 (Euros Group match)

Fabian Schar and Switzerland with a nightmare start after 13 minutes, the Newcastle defender deflecting a McTominay shot past his keeper, a shot which would almost for sure have been saved without Schar’s intervention.

The NUFC defender recovering to have another decent game. Helping Switzerland stand up to a very physical but limited Scotland team, Shaqiri with a brilliant 26th minute long range curled into the top corner effort to equalise. The Swiss should have went on to win but wasted a fair few chances and Scotland got lucky with two goals denied by VAR fine margins.

Thursday 20 June 2024

England v Denmark (Anthony Gordon and Kieran Trippier) Euros Group match 5pm BBC1

Friday 21 June 2024

Slovakia v Ukraine (Martin Dubravka) Euros Group match 2pm BBC1

Sunday 23 June 2024

Switzerland v Germany (Fabian Schar) Euros Group match 8pm BBC TBC

Monday 24 June 2024

Costa Rica v Brazil (Bruno Guimaraes) Copa America Group match

Colombia v Paraguay (Miguel Almiron) Copa America Group match

Tuesday 25 June 2024

England v Slovenia (Anthony Gordon and Kieran Trippier) Euros Group match 8pm ITV1

Wednesday 26 June 2024

Slovakia v Romania (Martin Dubravka) Euros Group match 5pm BBC TBC

Friday 28 June 2024

Paraguay v Brazil (Bruno Guimaraes and Miguel Almiron) Copa America Group match

Tuesday 2 July 2024

Colombia v Brazil (Bruno Guimaraes) Copa America Group match

(There will of course be more matches for Newcastle United players if their nations get through the group stages of the Copa America and/or the European Championships.)

Sunday 14 July 2024 – European Championships final.

Sunday 14 July 2024 – Copa America final.