‘I have to accept’: 26-year-old Chelsea player says he expected to play more minutes at the World Cup

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Chelsea’s Denis Zakaria has admitted he expected to play more for Switzerland during their World Cup campaign.

Switzerland secured their spot in the World Cup knockout rounds yesterday, beating Serbia 3-2 in yet another dramatic group stage match in Qatar.

The Swiss will now prepare for a last-16 tie against Portugal on Tuesday.

Zakaria was an unused substitute in Switzerland’s opening two group stages matches, but did get a cameo off the bench in Friday night’s victory over Serbia.

The 26-year-old midfielder hasn’t played a lot of football at club level since joining Chelsea on loan from Juventus in the summer. Therefore, perhaps that’s gone against him when international manager Murat Yakin selects his team.

Zakaria expected to play more

Zakaria admitted in a post-match interview yesterday that it’s been a somewhat frustrating tournament for him so far from an individual standpoint.

However, he’s delighted to see his country into the knockout rounds and was pleased with his contribution in his cameo against Serbia.

“Today’s mission was important for me. I expected more operating time. But I have to accept the coach’s decision. It’s difficult for a player when he’s not playing. But then you have to show a reaction, today I gave a good signal. We are very happy with the three points and progression,” Zakaria said, as quoted by Blick.

For certain, Zakaria definitely helped Switzerland regain a bit more control against Serbia when he dropped into the defensive midfield position.

The all-action midfielder has a lot of great physical attributes and has top-level experience, but he’s struggling for minutes at both club and international level.

Zakaria has played just two games for Chelsea since joining them, so you can fully understand why Switzerland aren’t starting him.

In our view, his move to Stamford Bridge has been a waste of his time.

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