Gregor Kobel’s European Championship qualifying campaign has come to an early end. The Borussia Dortmund goalkeeper has to miss out due to injury.
Goalkeeper Gregor Kobel will leave the Swiss national team earlier than planned. Borussia Dortmund’s 25-year-old goalkeeper is suffering from an injury, as he did in Switzerland’s last international matches, and will therefore have to wait for his sixth international match.
In the 1:1 (1:0) draw between the Swiss and Israel (in Felcsut, Hungary), Kobel sat on the bench for 90 minutes, while Yann Sommer conceded the equalizer in the 88th minute.
The BVB keeper will now return to Borussia earlier than expected. “Gregor Kobel is out due to muscular problems. He will stay with the team until SO and then travel back to his club. Anthony Racioppi will be called up,” the Swiss national team announced on “X” (formerly Twitter). Racioppi is 24 years old and a regular goalkeeper for Swiss champions Young Boys Bern.
In the European Championship qualifiers, Kobel only stood between the posts in one of the eight matches played, otherwise the former Gladbach and Munich player Sommer (34) was in charge of the “Nati” box. Kobel already had to miss the games in March and September due to injury. And that is how it will stay now.
European Championship ticket not yet secure after late equalizer
With the draw against Israel, Switzerland missed out on securing their ticket to the European Championship for the time being, but still have two more opportunities on Saturday against Kosovo (kick-off 8.45pm) and Tuesday in Romania (8.45pm). For Kobel, all that remains is to keep his fingers crossed from the outside.
Meanwhile, his club Borussia Dortmund will be hoping to see one of the best goalkeepers in the Bundesliga back on the pitch as soon as possible. After the 4-0 defeat to Bayern Munich and the sobering 2-1 loss at Kobel’s former club VfB Stuttgart, BVB will be looking to get back on the road to success in their home game against Borussia Mönchengladbach (Saturday, November 25). The runners-up are already ten points behind leaders Bayer Leverkusen