In case you had failed to notice of late,streets across Ireland are largely deserted at the moment as a little thing called the European Championships swing into gear. Day two begins today, and brings with the most glorious of things: three games a day. The first of these is the Group A clash between Albania and Switzerland.
Pay attention to it, because this game will become an important feature of pre-Euros quizzes in the feature. The game will mark the first time in Euros history that a set of brothers will have played against each other. Switzerland's Granit Xhaka (recently signed by Arsenal) will face his brother, Taulant.
The Xhaka's were born to Kosovan parents, who fled to Switzerland following their father's release as a political prisoner, who had been arrested for protesting against the Yugoslav government. Granit and Taulant were born in Switzerland. Owing to their parentage, they had the option of playing with Kosovo, but FIFA did not recognise the country until 2012, meaning that the Xhaka's could choose to play with Albania.
That is the decision that the elder Taulant made, but younger brother Granit opted to stick with the Swiss. This, he claims, was a result of the Albanian FA not trying hard enough to ensure he played with them.
A number of Xhaka's Swiss teammates also made this decision, with Xherdan Shaqiri and Valon Behrami both born in Kosovo, but ultimately chose to play with the Swiss. From a Swiss point of view, their decision is not unlike the nation's flag: a big plus. (You're fired -Ed).
