The Swiss national team extended their winless streak at the start of the 2025 calendar year: the 1-1 draw in Belfast was already the eighth competitive game in a row without a win.
After seven consecutive international matches without a win, the Swiss national team also wanted to turn things around at the start of the 2025 calendar year and lift the mood in the country. National coach Murat Yakin used the friendly in Northern Ireland to test some new faces.
Two debutants were among the starting XI in Belfast: Leeds defender Schmidt started on the right back, with Denmark-born Gartenmann in central defense directly next to him. The latter had an inglorious starring role early in the game: after a long ball, the Ferencvaros professional made a serious mistake and could only pull striker Bonis to the ground in front of the penalty area. The yellow card would have been tolerable, but Northern Ireland took the lead through a free-kick variant and scorer Price (16th).
A little later, two simple vertical balls again put the vulnerable Swiss defense in trouble – but this time Augsburg’s in-form defender Zesiger was on hand to stop Bonis (25′). Switzerland then equalized out of nowhere: Sierro headed in the corner from former Wolfsburg player Rodriguez (29′).
243:43 passes, 83 percent possession
The bare statistics showed 243:43 passes for Switzerland after 35 minutes, and 83 percent possession at half-time. But the visitors did not really become more threatening as a result, while the combative hosts were much more purposeful in their few offensive actions.
Northern Ireland could have taken the lead after the restart, but the surprised Price lifted the ball over the bar (47′). With Sanches and Blondel, two more debutants came on – numbers 24 and 25 under Yakins’ leadership – with around 20 minutes left on the clock.
But it was not until the final quarter of an hour that the game, which was not particularly easy to follow, picked up speed again: First, Kobel saved against Donley (74th), before Zeqiri, after fine work by Sanches, tested keeper Charles (78th). Deep into stoppage time, former Gladbach player Zakaria vented his frustration by collecting a well-deserved yellow card.
But that didn’t change the fact that it was their eighth winless competitive game in a row. Will they finally get back to winning ways against Luxembourg in St. Gallen on Tuesday?
