Dutch professional football players can be found all over the world; from the illustrious Premier League or LaLiga to the smallest competitions. As a result, at least one Dutchman is active in each of the 24 countries that participate in the European Championship and with them we zoom in on the atmosphere, the European Championship selections, their own experiences and much more. In episode 8, Alex Schalk talks about what the mega stunt against world champion and top favorite France has unleashed in Switzerland. The duel caused great division in the selection of his employer Servette, who comes from the French-speaking Geneva.
By Chris Meijer
The hotel lobby in the mountain village of Crans-Montana was roughly half filled with Swiss and half filled with French on Monday evening. And one Dutchman, who teasingly bounced up with every goal from Switzerland. “The French are very arrogant, aren’t they. When the Dutch was eliminated, I already felt it coming that I could not go to breakfast the next day without being told left and right that we can’t do anything about it. That happened. Those French said to me: ‘You are nothing, you are zero, you can’t do anything about it. Nice to play 5-3-2’” says Schalk, who is preparing for the new season with Servette in the Swiss Alps. His employer is from Geneva, the largest city in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Partly because of this, the necessary players and staff members come from France.
“Well, France was also going to play that match 5-3-2. I was already hoping that it would become Switzerland, so that the French would be silenced. So I was cheering when Switzerland went ahead, just to screw up the French a bit,” laughs Schalk. Switzerland took the lead, but seemed to give up the game completely after a missed penalty by Ricardo Rodríguez. France was heading for a 3-1 victory, until the Swiss tied the score in the final phase through goals from Haris Seferovic and Mario Gavranovic and finally took the penalty kicks better after 120 minutes of football. “The match went in all directions. Then one half of the team was in ecstasy and three minutes later the other half was again. It was horrific to experience that. The French already felt it coming with that penalty from Mbappé, so they were already on the stairs, so to speak, to go up.”
In the course of next week, Voetbalzone will publish an extensive interview with Alex Schalk about his experiences at Servette
While the French were already upstairs, videos of flooded cities flooded in on the telephones of his Swiss teammates. “There were a lot of people and cars on the street. Even though we are far from it now, we are getting that it is starting to come to life more and more. You can see that in the staff. The older generation. They have never experienced it all that they come this far. Our trainer is one of the record internationals in Switzerland, for example,” the 28-year-old striker points out to his trainer Alain Geiger. The former defender played 112 caps for Switzerland between 1980 and 1996 and therefore only has to tolerate record international Heinz Hermann, who played 118 times for the Alpine country.
There is a chance that Geiger, or even Hermann, will be overtaken by Xherdan Shaqiri (95 caps) or Granit Xhaka (98 caps) in the coming years. The experienced players of Liverpool and Arsenal may at first glance be the most striking names in the Swiss, but Schalk is also particularly pleased with Breel Embolo. The Borussia Mönchengladbach attacker scored in Switzerland’s first European Championship match against Wales (1-1). “Embolo has speed, power and purpose, that’s a very dangerous boy. They have a good permanent keeper with experience in Yann Sommer and two good defenders in the back with Manuel Akanji and Nico Elvedi.
Switzerland’s position against France. In any case, Granit Xhaka will not be there against Spain, because he has been suspended.
“Of course players like Shaqiri and Xhaka stand out, but Switzerland is above all a very close team. That’s very clever, because you have an Italian, French and German part of Switzerland. Teams from the German-speaking part of Switzerland train and play very differently from clubs from the French-speaking part, the culture is very different. For some reason, the national team is really a unit, that’s the credit of the trainer Vladimir Petkovic. So you see, that can take you far”, Schalk is impressed. With Silvan Widmer (FC Basel) and Christian Fassnacht (Young Boys), the Swiss selection also includes two players who Schalk knows well from the Super League. “It’s nice to see those guys now play against the world champion on this podium. But it’s not like I’ve followed the national team closely in recent years, not that.”
Schalk was not immediately surprised that Switzerland survived the group stage, in which Italy, Wales and Turkey were the opponents. “In the end, only six countries dropped out and Switzerland might have been a bit ashamed if they weren’t in the top three in their group. As Switzerland you just have to be in the first three, otherwise you have nothing to do at the European Championship. But no one expected them to take out France. Based on the game, they just deserved it, so I can’t say anything other than: hats off”, he nods. After the victory over France, a meeting with Spain awaits Friday at 6 p.m. in Saint Petersburg. If Switzerland stunts again, Belgium or Italy will be the opponent in the semi-final. “Switzerland would have the toughest schedule of all. That’s only nice, because if they make it to the final, nobody can say they didn’t deserve it. So just support Switzerland a little, it’s no different.”
Episode 1: From Dutch amateurs to Süper Lig: ‘At the European Championship I just cheer for both’
Episode 2: Why Denmark is a Dangerous Outsider: ‘That’s a Big Advantage’
Episode 3: ‘De Boer can call me for inside information, I don’t expect any problems’
Episode 4: ‘Slovakia Surprisingly Good? Here they talk a lot more about the Dutch’
Episode 5: ‘We looked in an the Dutch box and there my wife was proudly in her Italy shirt’
Episode 6: ‘I played with almost all Czechs and against Frenkie: that difference is big’
Episode 7: ‘I had my mind set on the Dutch, I never really wanted to play for Belgium’
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