He was the first player born in England to score at the European Championship this summer and on Saturday, for a place in the semi‑finals, Kwadwo Duah will play … England.
The 27-year‑old, who was born in London but moved from Islington to Switzerland with his parents aged two, is a Chelsea supporter and among those perplexed at Cole Palmer’s lack of minutes in Germany. “He had a very, very good season last year,” says Duah. “I’m also thinking: ‘Why is he not playing?’ Because his stats were perfect. Let’s see if he starts at the weekend. I would say I’m a big Chelsea fan, my idol is Didier Drogba. I follow the Premier League.”
Switzerland have never made it as far as a tournament semi‑finals but impressed against the hosts, Germany, in the group stage, knocked out the holders, Italy, in the last 16 and are unbeaten in eight matches, so Duah does not expect Gareth Southgate’s side to underestimate them in Düsseldorf. “I don’t think so because I think they will have watched the game against Italy and we were pretty good,” he says, smiling. “So I don’t think they will do that. We want to show what we can and we want to play our game. We will see [what happens].”
For Duah, whose parents grew up in Ghana, it has been an incredible journey to this point. The forward, who joined the Bulgarian champions, Ludogorets, from Nürnberg last year, was something of a bolter, a surprise inclusion in Murat Yakin’s provisional Swiss squad in May. Duah represented Switzerland at under-18, under-19 and under-20 level, the latter eight years ago, and a senior call-up came as a shock, despite his impressive scoring record in recent years. Yakin’s assistant, Giorgio Contini, a former striker, pushed Duah’s case for inclusion after the forward scored 13 goals in 24 top-flight appearances last season.
Duah struck 12 minutes into Switzerland’s 3-1 victory over Hungary and has featured in three of their four matches. Duah may be on the bench against England, with Breel Embolo, whom he played against as a youngster in Switzerland, likely to retain his place. Regardless, that goal against Hungary will stay with him. “It was a big moment for my family and me,” he says. “To score the first goal for Switzerland in a European Championship, I don’t think everyone does that, and we were all very happy. It was a big moment for me.”
Switzerland hope there is another seminal moment in the works. Granit Xhaka, their captain, is poised to start despite training alone on Tuesday and Wednesday as he fights a thigh problem. Xhaka headed into the Italy game with a similar niggle but those inside the camp insist there is no way he would miss a date with England. “What I can say about him is that he’s very positive,” Duah says. “He always wants to win, even in training. He’s really good at what he does. What I can learn from him is his winning mentality. He pushes the people around him. He controls everything.”
Duah is a confident talker, comfortable conversing in English, French, German and Italian, and an interesting character. He is a fan of comic books and sometimes reads them on the team bus en route to matches to help him relax. “Right now, I don’t read them, but yes I’m a very big fan, Donald Duck and stuff,” he says. There is a line there somewhere about Mickey Mouse defending.
As Switzerland prepare to tame Jude Bellingham, the big question is whether his overhead kick against Slovakia, that averted an embarrassing last-16 exit for England, eclipsed Xherdan Shaqiri’s ripped left-foot, first-time effort from outside the box against Scotland earlier in the tournament? Shaqiri, of course, has mastered the art of the overhead kick, scoring from the edge of the 18-yard box against Poland at Euro 2016.
“I would say that Shaq’s goal was the best,” says Duah. “I think it was more difficult, but it was probably more beautiful. It did something for us [to equalise]. Shaq has already scored many goals like that. I would say that his goal was a bit better.”
