{"id":545766,"date":"2026-07-12T11:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T11:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/545766\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T11:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T11:00:12","slug":"world-cup-2026-murat-yakin-reflects-on-switzerland-defeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/545766\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup 2026: Murat Yakin reflects on Switzerland defeat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Switzerland coach Murat Yakin described the rule behind Breel Embolo sending off as \u201cunacceptable\u201d after Argentina \u2060scored twice in extra time to end the Swiss fairytale World Cup run with a 3-1 quarter-final victory on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Embolo<\/a> was shown a second \u200cyellow card for simulation in the 72nd minute, five minutes after Dan Ndoye<\/a> had cancelled out Alexis \u200cMac Allister<\/a>\u2019s early opener and with Switzerland<\/a> carrying the greater threat.<\/p>\n

The \u200creferee had initially booked Argentina<\/a> midfielder Leandro Paredes<\/a> before a lengthy VAR review established that \u200cEmbolo had not been fouled.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was definitely no reason to award a \u200cyellow card,\u201d Yakin<\/a> said. \u201cIt was a harmless situation. He should have let play continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were punished because of a rule that is unacceptable. I don\u2019t understand it. The fact that \u200cthey intervened unnecessarily is extremely hurtful. It’s a rule \u2060that has nothing to do with football.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt \u200cdestroyed our game today. We have to accept it, but it is painful to \u200blose that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Switzerland held out until the 112th minute, when Julian Alvarez<\/a> whipped a superb long-range shot into the top corner, before Lautaro \u200bMartinez<\/a> added Argentina\u2019s third nine minutes later.<\/p>\n

The defeat<\/a> ended Switzerland\u2019s first World Cup quarter-final appearance since 1954 and left them one victory short of reaching the \u2060last four for the first \u200btime.<\/p>\n

\"MatchMatch momentumStatsPerform via Opta<\/p>\n

Yakin said the dismissal had transformed a match his side had begun to control after recovering from Mac Allister\u2019s 10th-minute opener.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to praise the entire team because we came back from a goal down against the world champions and \u200cwe had the momentum,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were dominating and controlling the match, and then we were punished because of a rule that is unacceptable. I don\u2019t understand it. My boys are the real heroes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Midfielder Remo Freuler<\/a> also questioned the intervention and called on FIFA to explain the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very proud of the team. You could tell that we gave 100%,\u201d Freuler said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t understand how VAR can make such a decision, and FIFA has to explain it to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Embolo collapsed in tears after the red card and was consoled by his teammates \u200cbefore leaving the pitch.<\/p>\n

Yakin said the striker was devastated.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was fouled many times \u200band he had a few very good moments in this game, but \u200cthen he couldn\u2019t help the team any more,\u201d Yakin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t blame him. Obviously, he is shattered because he could not help the team. It was a refereeing mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yakin said he was proud of Switzerland\u2019s performance not only against Argentina but throughout a tournament in which they had gone \u2060further than any Swiss side in \u2060more than seven decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am \u200cvery proud, they are very proud,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Switzerland coach Murat Yakin described the rule behind Breel Embolo sending off as \u201cunacceptable\u201d after Argentina \u2060scored twice…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-545766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}