While nearly all of his Fire teammates were either returning to Chicago or sneaking in some extra European sightseeing following Bastian Schweinsteiger's tribute match, Nicolas Hasler instead made the quick trip from Munich to nearby Liechtenstein to don his national team's colors in UEFA Nations League play.
“I always say the same when we have games with the national team," Hasler said, "and I have the possibility to go home, to see my friends from the national team, see the country again and wear the jersey and play for my country -- it’s one of the best feelings you can have.”
In his side’s first-ever Nations League matchup against Armenia back on Sept. 6, Hasler was given the armband after captain Michele Polverino was sent off after receiving a second yellow card in the 74th minute. Then, on Sept. 9, Hasler led his team out from the onset in a 2-0 win over Gibraltar. The pair of matches marked the first times Hasler donned the armband in a competitive setting, having done so once prior in a friendly.
“The second game I was the guy with the most caps on the team, so I had the honor to wear the captain's armband and to lead my team,” said Hasler, whose father, Rainer, is regarded as one of Liechtenstein's greatest-ever footballers. “That made me very proud and at the end we won also, so it was perfect.”
Often a wingback or wide player in his MLS club career, Hasler demonstrated his versatility while with Liechtenstein, recording an assist in each match and often drifting inside as an attacking midfielder, particularly as his side earned its first points in Group 4 with its win over Gibraltar.
“For small nations like we are, (UEFA Nations League) is a great opportunity,” Hasler said. “First, you already have your games. You don’t have to fix friendly games and search for opponents, because sometimes we want to play games against big teams and the big teams say ‘No, we don’t want to play against these small nations.’ I think the Nations League for us is very good because we can compete against, more or less, teams with the same populations, same size.”
UEFA Nations League is a two-year tournament for UEFA’s member nations that offers competitive play among national teams outside of qualifying matches for the Euro and World Cup tournaments. All 55 nations are divided up into four “leagues” (A, B, C, and D), from which they are again divided into three or four groups, which began play with that round of September matches. The tournament is set to offer a potential route to qualification for Euro 2020, with World Cup qualification possibilities to potentially be added later (visit uefa.com for more info).
“You can see what level you are and where you can be better,” Hasler said of competing in Group D. “Then of course you have the chance to make it to Euro, which is a big new thing. At the end, you need to win the games, of course, but you have the possibility. If you do a great tournament, you can make it. For me personally, I think it’s a good thing what they did here.”
Liechtenstein resumes UEFA Nations League play with matches against Macedonia on Oct. 13 and a replay with Gibraltar on Oct. 16. Hasler recognizes the challenge both matches present but is approaching them with confidence.
“We had Macedonia last year in our group and, for a small nation, they have a really, really good team. They have a lot of players in Europe professionally. They have a good under-21, so good young players coming up. That’s going to be a tough game. Then we’re going to play Gibraltar away. I would say we have the better players, so I like to put the pressure on us and say, ‘If we go there we have to win.’”
For now, Hasler is focused on the maximizing the final regular season stretch with the Men In Red, which began with Sunday’s 4-0 victory over Orlando City SC in which he went 90 minutes while patrolling the right side of the field.
“I’m happy that we could finally win,” he said. “Since I’m here, it was my first win. I’m very happy. I think we had a good game. Of course we could score a lot more goals, but at the end we did our job and we could win. We had a clean sheet, so that was very important, also for the fans.”
Next up is a two-match Eastern Conference road ledger that will bring the Fire to New England this Saturday (6:30 p.m. CT, ESPN+) followed by a visit to NYCFC at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday (Sept. 26, 6 p.m. CT, ESPN+).
“I think the whole team wants to go out and show our best," Hasler said of the mindset within the Fire locker room. "Of course we want to win every single game. Maybe we have this small chance to make the playoffs. It’s going to be very difficult but there is a small chance and we have to go with that mentality and try to win every inch, every game.”
