Football: Trossero wraps up first training session

Trossero dispenses advice during the final day of training Keystone

Switzerland's national football squad has completed its first training programme under Enzo Trossero. The Argentinean coach said the three-day get-together in Yverdon had been generally positive.

“Everyone worked well and I was very satisfied,” said Trossero. “There was an excellent spirit in the camp.”

As the players make their way back to their clubs for the fourth round of the Swiss championship, Trossero is also on the move. On Thursday he travels to Abtwil in St Gallen, where the squad will reconvene next month. As well as checking on preparations, the coach hopes to meet up with the Swiss defender, Stéphane Henchoz, who is training in the region with his English club side, Liverpool.

Henchoz was among a number of foreign-based players unable to make the Yverdon training camp because of club commitments. Trossero has already been in touch with Fabio Celestini and Alexandre Comisetti, who both play in France, and has been to Germany and Holland for talks with Ciriaco Sforza and Johann Vogel.

The coach also plans to visit Ramon Vega who is making a long-awaited return from injury with his London club, Tottenham, and catch up with David Sesa in Italy. Trossero will allow himself some time off in the next few days, though. On Friday he will be in Neuchatel to take a look at his new appartment, before taking a trip to Zurich to pick his wife up from the airport.

Trossero’s recent appointment following the departure of Gilbert Gress at the end of last year has clearly not given the new coach much time to settle in. The Abtwil meeting in August will culminate in a friendly match against Greece. Just over two weeks later the real test begins with Switzerland’s first World Cup qualifying game at home to Russia.


swissinfo with agencies