If you take into account Xherdan Shaqiri’s personality — bold and bombastic — as well as his playing style — mercurial and full of flair — it’ll come as very little surprise to you that Switzerland’s star man is already making plans for a big party back home “when [they] qualify” for the 2018 World Cup.
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Speaking after Thursday’s controversial 1-0 victory over Northern Ireland, a result which puts the Swiss 90 minutes from qualification to next summer’s tournament in Russia, the Stoke City winger stopped short of using words like “guarantee” or “promise,” but went so far as to call out the Northern Irish as second-best while playing on their home soil, and predict more of the same in the second leg when the two sides meet in Sunday’s second leg in Basel — quotes from the Guardian:“It’s going to be a nice party when we qualify. We can celebrate but we have to do it. We have taken one step to the World Cup.”
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“I think we had the ball for 90 minutes. We created more chances than them. They were only dangerous from corners and free kicks. It was not enough. It was a great result for us, the best we could get. They will have to play more offensively in Basel. They have to score to try to get to the World Cup.
“They played too defensively, they did not do enough to score, so they’re going to come to Basel and try to be more offensive, but that will mean it is more open for us. We will not sit back and relax, we are not a team that does that. We will try to keep the ball and make our game.”Follow @AndyEdMLS
