Belgium has already beaten Switzerland 2-1 in the first-leg, and against whom it plays on Switzerland’s home turf on Sunday in Lucerne. Roberto Martinez’s men will thus play their qualifying match in Switzerland, where one point will be enough in any event.
Roberto Martinez commented, “The meeting in Switzerland will be different.” He went on, “Switzerland is a different team and, in their view, they absolutely must win. In addition, they are playing a home game and this will be a genuine final. Their men will give everything for 90 minutes. Switzerland likes to retain possession of the ball, with players like Xhaka and Shaqiri. The Swiss have a history of having played together for some time. For us, a draw would be enough but we will not go to Switzerland to simply aim for a shared victory and to speculate upon the outcome. We will do our best.
When playing Iceland, Belgium unleashed the goal scorer in the second half, thanks to two goals by Michy Batshuayi. The Spanish coach for the Red Devils further believes, “We saw Iceland on its best form.” He went on, “A well-organized and compact team as seen in their games played in Euro 2016. In such matches, you have to be patient. It may happen that you lose your cool in these circumstances, but my players had the right attitude during the match.”
Roberto Martinez, who upped Belgium’s game with Hans Vanaken, Adnan Januzaj and Jason Denayer, said that he was highly content with the substitutes who “added value to the game.”
Questioned on the performance of the dual scorer, Michy Batshuayi, Martinez stressed “the brilliance” of his attacker “who worked hard for the entire match.” He then stated that he places greater emphasis on how the goals were scored, rather than the name of the scorer.”
Oscar Schneider
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