Newcastle United defender Fabian Schar was suffering with illness during Switzerland's 6-1 World Cup defeat to Portugal on Tuesday evening, according to national team boss Murat Yakin. The centre-half was withdrawn at the half-time with the Swiss already trailing 2-0 in the Round of 16 clash.
Schar had also earned an early booking in the Qatar clash, with many supporters thinking it was a tactical decision to take him off so early. However, Yakin has moved to clarify why some of his stars struggled in the knockout clash.
"Unfortunately, [Silvan] Widmer had a cold. Same for Schar," the Swiss boss revealed at full-time. "He was out of breath at half-time. [Nico] Elvedi also had a fever. He was not fully ready. Schar wasn’t himself either.
