Strange enough, but what was gradually bringing the crowd to fever pitch as it came to their attention proved to be the spark inside the tinderbox. It was cleared from the pitch quickly enough the delay, though, took longer than usual and it was only upon a glance upwards that the reason became apparent.Ī small craft was hovering just above the pitch, visible against the floodlights on a dark, clear night and parallel to the top of the stand. Just as I began musing on the unremarkable nature of it all, thinking to tweet my impressions at the break play was stopped by Martin Atkinson – the English referee may never have another night like this – because a flare had been thrown in the direction of an Albanian throw-in taker. Unless somebody came up with something unexpected, surreal and quite remarkable. UEFA had stepped in to settle a dispute between the two FAs about away ticketing, advising that nobody should travel, and the scope for flashpoints seemed thin on the ground. Serbia and Albania have a fraught and uneasy recent history, centring around Kosovo – the largely ethnic Albanian-populated territory that declared independence from Serbia in 2008. This was a game that had set the alarm bells ringing from the off, though. Seven of Albania's squad were born in the Kosovo region. NATO waged a 78-day air war in 1999 to halt the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo by Serbian forces fighting a two-year counter-insurgency war. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, but this is not recognised by Serbia. These have mainly surrounded the over the former ethnic Albanian-dominated Serbian province of Kosovo. It remains to be seen whether any simmering enmity takes on a life of its own once again.Albanian fans were banned from attending the match between the two Balkan rival nations, due to the turbulent relations between the two. “We’re happy to focus on football tomorrow and respect each other,” said the Switzerland manager, Murat Yakin, adding his voice to the entente. There is pressure on the coach, Dragan Stojkovic, to give Dusan Vlahovic his first start of Qatar 2022 and form a potentially lethal pairing with Mitrovic. Serbia are among the most creative, bewitching sides in the competition. Switzerland have performed modestly but have grown as an attacking proposition since the last World Cup. We’re here to play football, as are they.”Īs long as that remains a priority, the rewards could be lavish. “We are Switzerland, they are Serbia and that’s it. “There’s nothing in the history behind these two games,” Xhaka said this week, echoing his counterparts’ tone. In some quarters of Switzerland he and Shaqiri were looked upon dimly for focusing their attentions on Kosovo after scoring. Two months later, Xhaka, the son of emigrants from Kosovo, promised such a flashpoint “will never happen again”. Xhaka and Shaqiri received £7,600 fines for their celebrations the Albanian prime minister, Edi Rama, lent his backing to a “Don’t be afraid of the eagle” crowdfunding initiative that raised enough money to pay them off almost immediately. Their coach at the time, Mladen Krstajic, and then-FA head Slavisa Kokeza also took hits to the wallet for their conduct After the match in 2018 their FA was fined £41,000 on account of discriminatory banners and messages from their fans. Perhaps that is why Serbia, whose rap sheet with the governing bodies is lengthy, have been so intent on message discipline this week. Neither player expected emotions to run high: the priority was simply to look at themselves. His teammate matched the answer virtually word for word. “There’s no doubt it was big pressure four years ago but we need to focus on football and show we can play better than them,” Tadic said when asked how Serbia would handle the occasion this time. It was clear on Tuesday, when Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Dusan Tadic took questions at Serbia’s Al Arabi training base, that nobody was of a mind to dangle bait. Yet much of the buildup to their latest showdown has resembled a convention of the saints. Serbia refuses to recognise Kosovo as an independent state and encounters with Shaqiri and Xhaka, who both signed a petition to Fifa 10 years ago pledging support for what became the official Kosovan national team, are imbued with added significance on both sides. Four years ago, hostilities had been publicly stoked, Aleksandar Mitrovic among those to question Shaqiri’s choice of footwear.
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