Ex-Bundesliga professional Xherdan Shaqiri is going into Switzerland’s second World Cup group match against Brazil today (5:00 p.m. / ARD and MagentaTV) with good memories and full of confidence.
“That was also a difficult game, but we got a good result,” said the 31-year-old about the 1-1 draw in the preliminary round with the South Americans at the World Cup four years ago.
In addition, the Swiss have “developed since then, even more experience now, played against big teams more often and also scored. That gives confidence,” emphasized Shaqiri. “We know what we can do.”
The former FC Bayern Munich attacking man, who now plays for US club Chicago Fire, is still one of the key players in the Swiss team.
Shaqiri and Switzerland “all want to pull together”
The World Cup in Qatar is his fourth. He was directly involved in half of the last 24 goals scored by the Confederates in major events (European Championships and World Cups).
He scored eight goals himself and prepared four more – like in the 1-1 draw against Brazil in Russia and last Thursday’s 1-0 win against Cameroon in the first group game in Qatar.
They want to solve the difficult task against record world champions Brazil collectively, said Shaqiri. “We all want to pull together, fight and counteract it,” he explained. “We want to create chances and take them as hard as we can. If you take the lead it might be a different game.”