Xhaka escalates the dispute | NZZ

Granite Xhaka made a lot of noise after the double eagle rejoiced against Serbia. (Photo: Georgi Licowksi / EPA)

On Saturday, Granit Xhaka, unbeknownst to the Swiss Football Association (SFV), cleared an interview in which he declared that no player Swiss national football has never allowed modern times: the association, the general secretary Alex Miescher, for his games of mind concerning double citizens. Xhaka called Miescher's ideas analogous to the past, such as "stone age commentaries". Although the SFV Saturday in a statement to calm the debate by writing that he had never spoken in the Football Association against the status of dual nationality. This is true. But Miescher made it politically available, and Xhaka understood this, as he understood from his point of view: as a break in loyalty. It was as if Xhaka was turning to some kind of inner enemy with the interview.

It degenerated into conflict and arrived right in the heart of the Swiss Football Association. It's more or less a self-destructive process and no longer an argument against a devilish external adversary, for example against the media. The much-vaunted Wagenburg, which the Swiss have talked so much about at the World Cup, has been divided into two parts: here the team with its many Secondos, who feel hurt by the statements of Miescher, and there the association, without necessity and without sensibility Has launched a discussion which escaped him for a long time to the detriment of all. Because one thing is certain: something of this debate triggered inconsiderately will remain long with the association and this team, and even in the worst case, will impede athletically – as was already the case during the discussion on the Balkangraben end of 2015.

This direction of the association is that she has not managed to moderate a discussion that she had to know for years: the case the double eagle had initially underestimated, and then she gave the worst response possible with the initiative of Miescher.

The one who will perhaps suffer the most from this debate is the national coach Vladimir Petkovic, the great silence on all these issues. It is, so to speak, the hinge between the team and the association, and it is not difficult to guess who, in this case, belongs to him. Petkovic, who quickly hears a controversy behind every remark, must be particularly irritated by what his bosses have provoked in recent days. And with his three passes, he must be personally addressed by Miescher. In addition, the working conditions of Petkovic will not be pleasant in the coming months, because the discussions before the next games in September will not be demolished.

The only thing that could help in this situation would be a word from President Peter Gilliéron. On Saturday, he did not want to give an interview to "NZZ am Sonntag" because he did not like the questions. It should not be so difficult. It's time for answers.