Several Albanian-language portals published an article yesterday (December 1) titled "Switzerland in a major crisis, Shaqiri injured, two other stars missing from training!".
Based on research conducted by hibrid.info, according to the online search engine "Google.com", this article was first published by the portal "Indeksonline.net" (December 1, 10:50 am), while other portals subsequently distributed it.
After verification of the facts conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that this claim made by this online medium is untrue.
The news that the player of Kosovar origin Xherdan Shaqiri is injured was not found published on December 1 by any credible media in Kosovo or abroad.
That Shaqiri had suffered an injury is true as news (see here), as he did not even appear in the second round match against Brazil, but that his injury still persists, this has not been published by any media outlet nor has it been confirmed by any official in the Swiss camp.
Article published on "Indeksonline.net":
Switzerland's crucial World Cup group match against Serbia has left them in a difficult position. Xherdan Shaqiri is injured and his chances of playing against Serbia are fading.
Shaq also missed the match against Brazil due to injury.
The Swiss Football Federation also announced that Yann Sommer and Nico Elvedi were forced to skip the final training session before the match against Serbia due to a cold.
If all three stars are missing, Switzerland is expected to have serious problems for tomorrow's match. /Indeksonline/
Links to the article published in online media "Indeksonline.net","Flaka.com.mk","Kosova.info","Syri.net”And“BlicPresheva.com".
During research conducted by hibrid.info, a statement was found by the coach of the Swiss National Team, Murat Yakin, who yesterday (December 1) confirmed that Xherdan Shaqiri will be ready for today's (December 2) match against Serbia.
"Sommer and Elvedi had a bad night. But until Friday evening, they have time to recover. Just like the cold suffered by the goalkeeper and the center back, the muscle discomfort of Shaqiri and Okafor has also disappeared. The four players will be at my disposal on Friday", Yakin said, writes the Swiss media outlet Blick.ch. (see here)
Analyze:
Several Albanian-language portals published an article yesterday (December 1) claiming that Xherdan Shaqiri is injured, hinting that he may miss the match against Serbia.
These portals do not base this claim on any fact, and the source of this information is unknown.
This has been confirmed after research conducted by hibrid.info, as such a claim has not been found published by any foreign or Albanian-language media.
While it was the Swiss coach himself, Murat Yakin, who announced yesterday (December 1) that Shaqiri would be available for the match against Serbia, as his muscle injury had disappeared.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this article as "Fake News".
Reasoning:
The "Fake News" rating is given to media reports that are entirely the product of a medium that itself contains factually incorrect claims or information.
Content that is considered fake news can be reliably determined to have been created and distributed with the intent to misinform the public, i.e., to present a claim that is completely false as fact.